Blossom Class
Mrs Bradley (Class Teacher), Miss Crake, (Teaching Assistant) and Mrs Sumner (Teaching Assistant).
Blossom class offers Specialist Provision for pupils with children with social communication and interaction needs, including those with an autism spectrum condition diagnosis.
Blossom class can accommodate a maximum of 8 pupils. Staffing levels are set depending on the specific pupils and their needs. Staffing includes a qualified teacher, two full-time Teacher Assistants and another Teacher Assistant for 2 days per week. The qualified teacher has extensive experience of working with children with a wide range of SEND including ASC. She is currently studying for the National Qualification for SENCO. As well as whole school training, she has attended specific training for autism, PDA and trauma-informed approaches through regular Inclusion Forums presented by Inclusion Learning North. All Teacher Assistants have experience of working with pupils with autism and various intervention packages.
All pupils within Blossom class have an EHCP. The admissions criteria are separate from those of the mainstream school and children are placed through the Local Authority after consultation with the school. As most children have to travel further than their nearest school, transport can be arranged through the Local Authority. Particularly if children attend via transport, this can reduce face to face contact between parents and teaching staff. To overcome this issue, the school has a communication platform called ClassDojo where messages can be sent between parents and staff. Staff also phone and speak to parents regularly.
Blossom is based in a log cabin accessed via steps from the main school. It is easily accessible from the school, but yet has no adjoining walls and so does not experience noise from other areas. The cabin includes a small sensory room and toilet facilities. The cabin is set within a grassed outdoor area with opportunities for outdoor play, an outdoor learning bench, horticultural beds for children to grow various plants, including fruit and vegetables, and an area to investigate nature including a bug hotel.
Children are taught lessons within the Unit, just like the mainstream part of school however these lessons may look different to the mainstream classes. The Unit’s topics do not follow the same scheme of work as the mainstream classes (Lancashire Planning) however topics are planned on children’s interests, subjects are covered through topic webs and lessons are planned from there. Coverage is ensured by looking at a range of year group’s objectives and the curriculum overviews of each subject area. Children are able to access regular movement and sensory breaks throughout the day to ensure children’s focus and concentration is optimised and their sensory needs are met. Children are also given opportunities to access their mainstream class for any of these subjects and are given the necessary support to be able to do so. Work is recorded through Phonics, Maths and English books and through a learning journey to not only show the progress within topic work but also in the children’s PSED journey.
Regular sensory breaks are built into the day and planned from the child’s sensory profile. There is a small sensory room which can be blacked out when required and where children can take resources designed to meet their sensory needs.
Learning plans for individual pupils centre on Individual Education Plans written by the class teacher. These are based on a graduated response which identifies targets and strategies using advice from a range of professionals. These include an external specialist teacher from Reach Out ASC, Educational Psychologists, a Speech and Language Therapist, an Occupational Therapist and Medical reports. These professionals train our staff in delivering daily intervention to ensure success of the intervention.
Whilst children in Blossom class will always receive specialist provision for at least 50% of the week, most are initially in the class full-time. Once the pupils are secure within the environment and have built positive relationships with the adults, many begin to access aspects of the mainstream provision such as playtimes, lunchtimes or specific lessons where they feel confident and secure. Within classrooms, pupils utilise the same techniques such as visual timetables, pictorial cards and sensory breaks.
