Class teachers and members of school leadership team provide support for parents/carers in supporting their children and their progress in partnership. 

Alongside the bespoke support we have offered a range of courses in the academic year 2021-2022, some on-line and some face to face as restrictions lifted. Over years, feedback on courses to support parent/carers has been very positive.

Courses over time have included:

Makaton accredited courses for parent/carer.
Safe principles for moving and handling and manual handling
Accessing the internet.
Using communication aids
Eye Gaze
Musical Technology
Teaching various subjects
Development of physical skills 
Developing early language and communication - led by Speech and Language Therapists.
Sensory integration principles
Teaching of reading and phonics
Developing writing skills
Positive behaviour strategies
Use of structured visual resources to support pupil in understanding and transition.
Challenges of adolescence 

We ask parents/carers to let us know if there are specific courses that they would find useful. 

Examples of feedback has included:

Makaton accredited course:

• 100% found the course very useful

Comments included:

• It gives a way to communicate with my son and a better understanding
• Expanded our knowledge of Makaton
• We are using signs daily and we are learning new signs.
• I can make my son's life easier for him through signs

Parent comments from various other courses included:

• It gave me ideas on how to teach my non-verbal child about phonics and how to validate that they understand me.
• I learnt that I have to look after myself as well as my child.
• It was nice to chat with other parents about our concerns and realise we all have the same worries.
• I only really thought that reading started with books, I didn't think about sight or hearing elements. I now realise everything that my child does involves the first signs of reading.

After the success of this year’s programme of training with parents/carers, we are going to continue to offer a number of courses this year. The feedback from the sessions this year were all highly positive.

The following are provisional dates. Booking forms will be sent out closer to the time. m.

Our pupils have a range of needs. Not all of the sessions will match your child’s needs although you can come to the sessions if you are interested. If you are not sure if the session will be something that would support you with your child then please just contact Julie Goddard in school and she will know or will find out.

Booking forms will be sent out closer to the time but the list below gives you advance notice in case you want to pop the dates into your diaries. The dates will be fixed as below unless for any reason there is something we cannot control e.g. the trainer being absent etc.  We will also confirm when on the booking forms if sessions are face to face (and venue) or on Teams.

Our pupils have a range of needs. Not all of the sessions will match your child’s needs although you can come to the sessions if you are interested. If you are not sure if the session will be something that would support you with your child then please just contact Julie Goddard in school and she will know or will find out.

Date	Time	Focus
Wednesday 5th October	Morning	EYFS Coffee morning
Wednesday 12th October	Morning	Welcome to the Primary Department
Friday 21st October	Morning	Welcome to the Secondary Department
Monday 31st October	Morning	Sleep management course
Thursday 24th November	10:00-2:00	Phonics session/Reading Do you want to know more about Phonics? Exploring reading with our pupils.
Monday 28th November	Morning	An introduction to the picture exchange system, including communication books
Provisional dates to be confirmed: Friday 13th Jan, 20th Jan, 27th Jan, 3rd Feb	Morning	Makaton for beginners The course and the manuals are funded by our school for our parents and carers. Parents/carer will get an attendance certificate. All dates must be attended to complete the course.
Tuesday 10th January	Morning	Parent Sensory Experience – how to use multi-sensory activities to engage pupils in learning
Wednesday 11th January	Morning	Using different ways to support communication e.g. pictures and technology
Monday 16th January	Morning	Parent Basic ICT session
Wednesday 18th January	Morning	EYFS Coffee morning
Monday 27th February	Morning	Primary Coffee morning
Thursday 2nd March	Morning	Developing pupils writing including mark making
Friday 10th March	Morning	Secondary coffee morning
Monday 13th March	Morning	An introduction to Intensive Interaction
Friday 17th March	Morning	Parent session “Sharing the Curriculum” Want to know more about the curriculum and what we do? Come along today and we will share how we teach Science.
Tuesday 21st March	Morning	How to engage children in books and stories
Monday 27th March	Morning	Exploring Number and Counting on
Provisional date to be confirmed: Wednesday 26th April	Morning	Makaton refresher session for parents/carers who have already completed the beginner’s course.
Friday 28th April	Morning	Parent internet safety session
Provisional date to be confirmed: Thursday 4th May	Morning	Makaton follow up course
Friday 5th May	Morning	Secondary coffee morning
Thursday 30th June	Morning	EYFS/Primary coffee morning

There will be:

• Challenges of Adolescence Course running in the summer term
• Supporting pupils behaviour again in the summer term
• Communication skills and understanding delivered by Speech and Language Therapy team  

Dates for these courses will be sent out when we are able to confirm

There will be other things we may add to the list during the year and we will tell you about these as they arise. The sessions above are ones that are currently planned. If there is something you think would be useful but we have not included in the programme then please just let us know and we can see if it something we can do.