Our offer
Therapy
The trust-wide Therapy team comprises three Occupational Therapists, five Speech and Language Therapists, and a Speech and Language Therapy Assistant. However, every member of the school community, including parents and carers, plays a key part in the delivery of our therapy services. This reflects our belief that therapy is most effective only when fully embedded into the ‘all day, every day’ engagement and communication opportunities of our pupils at school and at home. We were delighted that the way we embed our therapy provision through effective multi-disciplinary collaboration was recognised by Challenge Partners as an ‘Area of Excellence’ in 2019.
The Occupational Therapy team aims to promote each pupil’s participation, functioning, and independence in learning, play, and self-care activities. This involves looking at: the pupils themselves and their individual capacity across a range of skills; the activities in which they want, need or are expected to take part; and the extent to which the environments around the school support their participation and independence.
The Speech and Language Therapy team aims to ensure that each pupil has a functional mode of communication, and develops their expressive and receptive language skills during their time here. Communication is an essential life skill that is central to how we express our needs, emotions and ideas, build social relationships, and learn new skills. Additionally, dysphagia assessment and intervention are provided as necessary to ensure that the risks associated with swallowing difficulties are minimised, making eating and drinking as safe as possible.
Both teams provide a lot of training and support to school-based colleagues and families, and additional intervention is prioritised according to pupils’ needs. In this way, The Avenue School aim to meet or even exceed the requirements of all our pupils’ Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
For a more detailed explanation, please read our Service Delivery Models. Our Head of Therapy, Ellie Cornford, will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Behaviour Management
At The Avenue School we believe it is of upmost importance to help our pupils learn and develop positive strategies and skills for managing their own behaviour. The Avenue School recognise that challenging behaviour serves a function and is often a method of communication. Therefore, The Avenue School prioritise teaching functional alternatives, so our pupils can get their wants and needs met in safer, more positive ways.
All The Avenue School pupils are individuals and we aim to foster a highly personalised approach in our teaching, and management of behaviour that challenges. This involves the creation of an individualised Behaviour Plan and bespoke support from the Inclusion, Family Support, Therapy, and Medical Teams.
For a more detailed explanation, please read The Avenue School Behaviour Policy and Physical Intervention Policy. The Avenue School Head of Inclusion and Family Support, Emily Williams, will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Verbal Behaviour
The Avenue School has four specialist Verbal Behaviour (VB) classrooms for learners who benefit from extra support with communication and behaviour for learning. They provide specialist teaching based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)/Verbal Behaviour.
The Director of Inclusion, Emily, has thirteen years’ experience working in the field of ABA/VB and has had the opportunity to work with some of the leading consultants in the UK. Emily is supported in her work by Emmy Norris (Inclusion Practitioner), Jessica Goff (Verbal Behaviour Supervisor), a growing team of staff trained in the principles of ABA/VB, and visiting Board Certified Behaviour Analysts (BCBA).
If you have any questions, or for more information regarding admission criteria, our Director of Inclusion, Emily Williams, will be happy to help you.