EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

Introduction

I have always had an interest in dyslexia and this was one of the reasons for choosing Northease Manor School. I have learned so much on this placement which will be invaluable in my future career. It was an amazing experience and I want to thank the school for having me. Inter-professional Collaborative Working

During placement I worked with a range of professionals in a number of different roles. I worked in the classroom as a support assistant in subjects including Maths, Art, Geography, English, RE, DT, Science and ICT. I also worked with groups and on a one to one basis. I supported sessions with speech and language and occupational therapists and developed a much clearer understanding of their role and the activities that support the children. I worked with the exams officer and other school staff during the GCSE exams and controlled assessments working as a reader and scribe for the children. This provided an insight into how difficult exams must be for the children even with the support of a reader and scribe. I also learned about the application process to apply for extra time, scribes and readers and what is involved. Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q6, Q18, Q20, Q32 Classroom Support

English was one of the subjects where I worked in a support role with the class teacher. I worked with years 5, 6 and 7 on the Oxford University Press Read Write Inc Fresh Start programme. The programme goes right back to basics teaching phonics, reading and spelling. Many of the children in lower school have extremely poor literacy skills which made me reflect upon the wisdom behind inclusive schooling and how these children had been failed by the mainstream education system. Link to TDA Standards Q6, Q18, Q32 Group work

I worked with a group of year 5 and 7 children on world book day supporting story writing through the use of story-boards. I saw how this approach helped students with poor literacy skills still engage in the story-writing process, using an alternative strategy. This is something I may be able to use when teaching English to children with literacy difficulties. In fact this approach may be beneficial to all children. Link to TDA Standards Q6, Q18, Q21, Q32

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

One to One support

I worked on a one to one basis with children who needed support with reading and spelling particularly when using the internet for research. It had not occurred to me how disabling dyslexia could be and how it is such a huge barrier to learning, preventing children from accessing all kinds of information. I saw that children were very capable in many subject areas but they needed support to help them overcome difficulties. Link to TDA Standards Q6, Q18, Q21, Q32

Behaviour My perception of the behaviour of children with special needs has changed. I expected them to be angry, frustrated and have many more behaviour problems because of their difficulties than children in mainstream schools but this has not been my experience. All the children I worked with were well behaved and polite in fact more so than some in mainstream schools. Link to TDA Standard Q18, Q21 Policies and Procedures

I acquainted myself with the school policies and procedures and used this knowledge when dealing with an issue relating to name calling and nasty comments during a music lesson. I made a note in the communication book and spoke to the appropriate teaching staff. Link to TDA Standard Q21

Teaching, Learning and Support

I am beginning to appreciate the complexity of needs pupils bring into the school, not only do they have their own SPLD, they also have low self esteem, some emotional problems and low attainment and all of these issues need to be addressed. I have seen that children with SPLD thrive in a supportive environment where their individual needs are catered for and the holistic approach at Northease provides this. I understand how small class sizes provide a more personalised approach, but that some children still need extra support from Special Needs Assistants because of their particular difficulty. In the lower school teaching focused on ability rather than an age related curriculum and the emphasis is on the development of the key basic skills such as phonics and number bonds. I understand how the therapists help the children, sometimes in groups or in one to one sessions. I have learned that the therapy services support the development of a wide range of skills including physical and motor skills, social skills and memory and sequencing. Counselling sessions support children with emotional problems. Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q6, Q18, Q20, Q21, Q32

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

Understanding childrens difficulties

I learned how important it is to get to know each child and understand their difficulty, how it presents itself and how to deal with it appropriately. For Example: One boy refused to participate in a therapy session one day and because the therapist understood his problem she let him withdraw from the activities until he was ready to join in. I immediately saw the benefits of this approach and related it to time out cards used in mainstream schools. Prior to placement I may have seen this behaviour as an excuse not to work and could have issued sanctions rather than understanding the problem and how to deal with it appropriately. Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q18, Q21, Q32 How therapy sessions contribute to pupil attainment and wellbeing I have seen how therapeutic support contributes to childrens physical and emotional wellbeing, which links directly to activities in the classroom and an improvement in skills. For Example: occupational therapy activities develop gross and fine motor skills helping children with their pencil control and writing skills. Speech and language therapeutic activities directed at auditory deficit dyslexia improve sequencing and memory skills which are essential to learning. I found out that therapists also recommend specialised equipment e.g. reading rulers and overlays to help children overcome their difficulties where appropriate. Working with the therapists has given me the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of dyslexia and other SPLDs and I have undertaken additional research to support my placement activities. Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q6, Q18, Q20, Q21, Q32 Unexpected Learning a) Reader and Scribe

I have been lucky enough to gain experience as a reader and scribe in the GCSE Science and Maths exams and during controlled assessments for GCSE English. Link to TDA Standards Q6, Q32 b) World Book Day

While working with Lower School on World Book Day and listening to the guest speaker Nicky Singer I learned a great deal about using emotions to start a story and how to build on that to create an exciting storyline. This will be extremely useful to me when teaching English. Link to TDA Standards Q32

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

c) Subjects

I learned about Design and Technology through supporting students as they created their GCSE portfolios and through observations in the workshop. Link to TDA Standards Q32 Techniques and Good Practice

One technique used by the teachers was to ask children who found it difficult to focus to look up and look at me. This simple technique was extremely effective and I was able to implement it when working with groups. Along with this technique was the use of direct questioning and wait time. I observed this in a PE lesson, by allowing a much longer wait time almost all of the children put their hands up to answer questions. This not only contributed to more effective teaching and learning but also their self esteem. I have used this technique in the past, but on reflection have not allowed sufficient thinking time. I will increase it in future especially when working with children with learning difficulties. In a mainstream school I observed teachers asking questions and if the child was too slow the teacher would quickly move on and choose a smart child to answer. Obviously this affects the self esteem and engagement of the child who was originally asked the question. During my placement I have been able to share ideas and good practice with the staff. Examples include: Discussing problems with Apple Mac computers and the network and offering suggestions. Offering to write visual instructions to help students overcome the printing issues with the Apple Mac computers. Suggesting the use of colour or shading on maps in Geography to support an exercise where children had to identify continents and oceans as they had difficulty distinguishing between the two. The teacher thanked me for my observation and said she would implement the suggestion. In English I observed children reading a piece of text out loud and then completing a comprehension exercises. The problem was that some childrens reading skills were so poor that the story became difficult to follow. I discussed this with the teacher suggesting that perhaps she should read it first, and then ask the children to read (as they would already be familiar with the story and could concentrate on decoding) and finally ask them to complete the comprehension exercise. The next time I was in the lesson the teacher was using my suggestion. I provided the ICT teacher with a link to free web design software.

Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q6, Q18, Q32 Communication I have learned that effective communication is essential in a special school especially where there are a number of different professionals involved in the care of the children. These include teachers, support staff and other professionals (therapists) within the school and outside agencies such as counsellors and medical professionals. Within the school there are a number of communication channels, such as the communication book Page 4 of 9

EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

to report incidents, scheduled staff meetings and daily morning meetings with the Head Teacher. The children also have the opportunity to discuss issues in tutorials at the end of each day which I think this is an excellent idea, allowing the resolution of problems before finishing school for the day. I would like to use this idea but see problems in implementing it in a class of 30+ children. Link to TDA Standards Q5, Q6, Q32 Relationships I believe I developed good working relationships with the staff at the school and contributed to the day to day activities. I also built positive supportive relationships with the children. One child, Ailsa, took the time to thank me for helping her during a lesson and I was very touched that such a small contribution from me, spelling words to help her search using the internet, made such a big difference to her. Link to TDA Standards Q6, Q32

I agree that this is an accurate statement of participation and learning opportunities afforded to Fiona Buchanan at Northease Manor School in February and March 2012

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Signed by: Mr A Millard, Deputy Head Teacher, Northease Manor School

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Signed by: Fiona Buchanan, Student, University of Brighton

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan Appendix A

s
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND SPORT PARTNERSHIP OFFICE Updated 12th March 2012 INDIVIDUAL TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Student: School/College: Course: Placement: Fiona Buchanan Subject area: ICT University of Brighton / Northease Manor School PGCE F/T PGCE P/T 2Yr BA 4Yr BA (Sec) 4Yr BA (KS2/3) Placement one Placement two Complementary Placement

Targets linked to specific standards (identified prior to the placement)

Q5 Recognises / respects the contribution of colleagues, parents and carers to the development/wellbeing of young people

Actions (negotiated with the mentor at the beginning of the placement and reviewed / amended at weekly intervals)
Work with colleagues and recognise their importance in the development of young people especially in a SEN school context. Recognise that pastoral care and support from external agencies play a significant part in the development and wellbeing of the children.

Review date

Further action needed (evidence of achievement must be documented in section D of the PDP)
Evidenced by the Statement of Learning. Through observation and working in a support role I understand how colleagues support childrens development and wellbeing through a modified ability related curriculum, therapeutic support, counselling and pastoral care.

End of the complementary placement

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

Q6 Commitment to collaboration/cooperative working Work in collaboration with others. This includes teachers within the school, specialist teachers and professionals from external agencies such as counsellors and speech and language specialists. End of the complementary placement Evidenced by the Statement of Learning. I worked with a range of staff during placement including teachers, TAs and therapists in a support role. I worked for the exams officer as a scribe and reader in GCSE exams and controlled assessments. I spoke to the counsellor about her work but was unable to work with her because of issues of confidentiality. Evidenced by the Statement of Learning. Through working in class, with groups and on a one to one basis I developed a clearer understanding of the problems children with SPLD face in their day to day education. I worked with teachers and Speech and Language and Occupational Therapists to provide support to groups and individuals. Evidenced by the Statement of Learning. I had meetings, undertook observations worked with a range of colleagues to understand their roles within a special school environment. These included the Speech and Language and Occupational Therapists, Head of Pastoral Care, Teachers, the Exams Officer and the Counsellor. I also discussed the training and qualifications required for specialist roles.

Q18 Understands how young people develop and that progress / wellbeing are affected by developmental, social, religious, ethnic, cultural and linguistic influences

Understand the developmental delays for children with SPLD and how the school supports their learning. To provide support and guidance (planned/supervised) to the children through group work during formal lessons, and therapy sessions.

End of the complementary placement

Q20 Know and understand the roles of colleagues with specific responsibilities, including those with responsibility for learners with special educational needs and disabilities and other individual learning needs.

In conjunction with Q5 and 6 above, develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the roles of teachers and specialists. Find out about specialist training to support learners with SPLD for own future professional development. Where appropriate shadow these colleagues to understand their roles more fully.

End of the complementary placement

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

Q21 (a) Be aware of the current legal requirements, national policies and guidance on the safeguarding and promotion of the wellbeing of children and young people. Q21 (b) Know how to identify and support children and young people whose progress, development or wellbeing is affected by changes or difficulties in their personal circumstances, and when to refer them to colleagues for specialist support. Be aware of safeguarding & wellbeing legislation. Understand policies and procedures within the school. Be aware of key personnel to be contacted in the event of any issues and to contact them in the first instance. Follow advice and school policies. End of the complementary placement Evidenced by the Statement of Learning and familiarity with current legislation (through University study). I acquainted myself with school policies and procedures regarding incident reporting and communication with the appropriate staff. I did refer one incident I observed to the appropriate teacher and entered details into the incident book.

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EV504 Statement of Learning at Northease Manor School Fiona Buchanan

Q32 Work as a team member and identify opportunities for working with colleagues, sharing the development of effective practice with them. To work as a team member contributing to the effective working of the school in a range of roles / activities. To be proactive in gaining experience and developing skills. To share effective practice / knowledge where appropriate. End of the complementary placement Evidenced by the Statement of Learning. I undertook a number of roles (as stated in Q18) including as a classroom assistant, taking a group for a storyboard activity on World Book Day, and helping in therapy sessions. I made a number of suggestions to staff based on my observations in the classroom. In Geography to help identify continents on a map, in Art to overcome an ICT problem, in English to aid comprehension and in ICT to access free web design software. I developed new skills by working as a reader and scribe for GCSEs and controlled assessments (see Q6) I undertook independent study to learn more about SPLD, Dyslexia and supportive therapies.

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