Inclusion Centre
The Inclusion Centre at Milton Park Primary School
The Inclusion Centre is a local authority provision that caters for up to 17 children from Year 3 to Year 6 who have significant communication and interaction difficulties. For children to be considered for a place in the inclusion centre they need to have an EHCP and be referred via the Inclusion Support Panel and the SEND team.
What is the Inclusion Centre?
Milton Park Primary School is extremely proud and fortunate to have a well-equipped facility catering specifically for the needs of children with social communication difficulties including, Autism. Here, the children are able to learn in small groups and have their own safe spaces to explore.
Milton Park Primary School’s Inclusion Centre opened in 2008 with an allocation of 12 places which was subsequently extended to 14, and then again to 17 places.
The Inclusion Centre is a resourced provision for children who have an EHCP or are currently undergoing assessment, who are awarded placement by a panel of specialists. The children will work towards being able to integrate into mainstream for some learning, with a high level of support to meet their specific needs from the provision staff. The day to day running of our provision is delegated to Mrs Anna Young (Assistant Headteacher and Inclusion Leader for the whole school). It is monitored and reviewed as part of the school and staff are performance managed by Mrs Young, who is performance managed by the Headteacher. Expectations for the quality of learning and teaching is monitored through a range of processes including learning walks, learning looks, drop ins, termly pupil progress meetings (where learning is moderated by the leadership team).
We use a variety of personalised learning styles to meet the individual needs of our children. Focusing on several areas of learning including academic progress, independence skills, social skills, coping and flexibility of thought. The children follow a breadth of learning that mirrors some of the learning in the mainstream. The curriculum focus links with classes in the mainstream but is adapted to meet the individual needs of the children, this helps streamline integration. We have a large focus on individual need and targeted interventions, and alongside academic outcomes, we also track smaller steps in social and emotional learning, including social communication targets.
Staffing in the Inclusion Centre consists of two teachers, one higher level teaching assistant and eight teaching assistants. Our children are also supported by outside agencies, such as Educational Psychology and Speech and Language therapy. Staff from across the wider school also access support from the team to develop their skills.
Training, as well as externally provided, is also given in house (our Inclusion Centre manager has a post graduate certificate in Asperger’s and Autism from Sheffield Hallam University which has given her a much deeper and wider understanding of autism). All staff also attend whole school INSET days.
The learning environment
Our provision has 17 places and currently has two classroom bases with access to the rest of the school, including TreeTops (our pastoral provision).
To promote independent working, most children access ‘bay work’. These provide carefully chosen tasks that allow children to practise key skills, and to practise working without an adult, allowing them to be independently successful in their learning.
Staffing in the Inclusion Centre consists of a teacher, Mrs Walton, two higher level teaching assistants and a further six teaching assistants.
How we aid learning
The emphasis in our Inclusion Centre is on a child centred approach to learning. We aim to start with the experience of each child, and then use this to develop their confidence and interests in all activities they partake in. We will provide visual and sensory experiences to encourage and assist learning. It is our aim to motivate the children to learn using their interests when possible to attract them and maintain their concentration.
We give the day a familiar structure so that children know what to expect. As well as using a visual timetable, as used throughout the school, children may also have a visual schedule for an individual lesson, so they know who they are working with, what they are doing, where they are doing it and what comes next. This helps to alleviate anxieties and improve focus on learning. Learning may be chunked into smaller tasks which feel more accessible, and this provides for short learning breaks, often used for sensory activities.
Inclusion in Mainstream
All children have a link class and a link teacher. We know that the relationship with the teacher is crucial, so teachers are very skilled and finding ways to build that relationship, often with a chat on the playground, a little note or a letter. When first attending their class, children will usually join a preferred lesson and are likely to build up their time in class gradually. Social stories, visual structures, safe objects, rewards are all tools we can use to support this. Sometimes children need some additional help to build a relationship with their peers in a mainstream class and a circle of friend’s intervention can support this.
Inclusion centre our year in picutures 2022-2023.pptx.pdf