We have a 26 place resource base where children with Speech and Language Disorder are taught.
To be eligible for a place in the Resource Base, your child must have a Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education Health and Care Plan.
The children are taught in three classes, most of which are mixed age. In each class there are only eight or nine children taught at a time. In each class there is a Teacher and Teaching Assistant to help support your child.
Our Resource Base Charter
Vision
- To provide specialist teaching and therapeutic Speech and Language (S&L) support for children with Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)
- To work to a high professional standard to provide an environment where children with SLCN make good and outstanding progress especially in Speech, language and communication
Environment
- The children feel emotionally safe
- Language rich
- Evidence of specialist language support
- Time given to communicate successfully verbally and non-verbally
- Speech and language targets displayed
- Enhanced listening environment – close to teacher/ facing teacher
Planning
- Adapted to support the needs of the child taking into account specific speech and language targets whilst ensuring access to curriculum entitlement
- Liaison with mainstream teachers to support learning
- Liaison with speech and language therapists to support learning and language development
- Multisensory approaches to stimulate, engage and support children with their learning
Teaching
- Small groups and one-to-one
- Team teaching with speech and language therapists
- Emphasis on teaching language skills – phonic awareness, expressive language, vocabulary, specific grammar, comprehension, repetition of key concepts
- Concepts delivered in language children can access and new learning continually broken down into small, achievable steps
- Prompting with cues
- Opportunities to integrate with mainstream children to meet child’s specific needs
- Real-life experiences – use of real objects in teaching and trips and visits to reinforce learning
Assessment
- Regular access to speech and language assessments to underpin academic progress
- Standardised tests to measure small steps of progress
- Immediate verbal feedback given to children during the lesson
- Use technology (e.g. digital cameras) and observation to record work and progress
- Regular feedback and meetings with parents/ carers
Resources
- Specialist resources e.g. shape coding, cued articulation
- Use of visual prompts
- Use of Widgit software to create visual/ symbol support for learning
Speech and Language Therapy
- Specific speech and language programmes carried out with individual children by therapists and school staff
- Group teaching of: oro-motor skills, phonological awareness, narrative, social skills etc.
Multidisciplinary Approach
- Collaboration between staff and other professionals to meet the individual needs of the child: Health, Local Authority, Community
- Liaison with professionals from other schools to aid transition to and from the SLCN base
- Regular communication with parents and carers
Professionalism
- Adults trained in specific approaches to teaching children with SLI
- Ongoing CPD to keep up to date with latest research/ strategies
- Adults model and disseminate expertise and good practice to mainstream colleagues