Effective Practice Archives - Page 30 of 66 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Portfield School is situated in the town of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire and provides education for pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN) aged between three and nineteen years. The school caters for pupils with a range of special educational needs, including severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder, as well as various genetic disorders, physical and sensory difficulties.  

There are currently 157 pupils on roll. Pupils come from a large catchment area across the county of Pembrokeshire and a very few come from a neighbouring local authority.   Nearly all pupils have a statement of SEN or an education, health and care plan. Around 38% of all pupils receive free school meals.  A very few pupils speak Welsh as their first language.  A very few pupils are looked after by the local authority.
 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school aims to provide a broad, balanced, relevant and purposeful curriculum for all pupils, building on pupils’ prior knowledge, experiences, skills and understanding.  Developing pupils’ independence and life skills features prominently in the school’s vision and runs throughout teachers’ planning and recent curriculum developments.  It makes a significant contribution to pupils’ standards and levels of wellbeing at the school.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

In line with the development of the Curriculum For Wales, Portfield School has reviewed its curriculum arrangements to enable all pupils to access a wide range of stimulating learning experiences that have the four purposes at their core.  Alongside this, given the broad range of needs of pupils at the school, staff recognise that the curriculum must be relevant to pupils’ individual needs and abilities, and there must be flexibility in order to ensure continued relevance for all pupils at the various stages of their time at the school.  This means that not all pupils experience all aspects of the curriculum all of the time, but rather that a balance in the whole curriculum will be reflected in pupils’ individual experiences according to their individual needs and the various age-related stages of their school life.  

For example, younger pupils and those with more complex needs support familiar routines in class by distributing items to their peers, fetching the equipment they need and clearing up after themselves after learning activities or at the end of break and meal times.  Pupils in the foundation phase and key stage 2 develop their cooking skills from an early age by stirring and mixing ingredients and kneading the dough to make bread.  Older pupils improve their understanding of the world of work through an extensive range of well-planned enterprise activities and work experience placements.  For example, they learn to use carpentry tools at a joinery company to upcycle furniture, make bird boxes and wooden planters, and practise catering and customer service skills in a local café and charity shop.

Teachers place a particularly strong emphasis on curriculum and individual lesson planning in the development of pupils’ independence and life skills.  They take care to ensure that lessons provide purposeful activities to promote the development of targets in pupils’ individual education plans (IEPs).  There are strong links between the objectives in pupils’ statements, the setting of IEP targets and teachers’ planning.  This applies equally to older, more able pupils completing work experience placements in preparation for leaving school, as it does to learners who develop the skills they need to support their learning and independence in ways that relate meaningfully to their own individual needs.  

These processes link closely to the school’s arrangements for tracking and monitoring pupil progress.  The school uses a wide range of assessments that are well matched to pupils’ needs and abilities.  Leaders and teaching staff use the outcomes of these assessments expertly to ensure that their planning of the curriculum provides valuable learning experiences for nearly all pupils and they track and monitor pupils’ progress regularly. 

The robust links between initial assessment, pupils’ personal targets and teachers’ planning provide nearly all pupils with worthwhile opportunities to make progress during their time at the school.  Annual review meetings use person-centred approaches exceptionally well and the school supports pupils and parents extremely effectively to contribute fully to the process.  This has significantly strengthened pupils’ involvement in their own learning, and is a powerful aspect of the school’s provision.

The school ensures that there are meaningful opportunities for pupils to contribute fully to the life of the school.  There are well-established opportunities for all pupils to take part in the school council, eco committee, and the ‘Tech Team’.  The school strongly promotes pupil involvement in other activities to develop their confidence and social skills, including drama activities, educational visits to develop team-building skills and access to sports events.  As a result, most pupils improve their confidence during their time at the school.  

These arrangements are complemented by the school’s robust and well-established personal and social education (PSE) programme, which is particularly effective in supporting pupils’ development of personal and social skills.  Throughout the school day, staff deliver this programme skilfully.  For example, they support pupils’ understanding about making healthy food choices, and the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and substance misuse.  This approach promotes effectively the development of pupils’ skills for life, preparing them well as they progress through the school and towards adulthood.
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

In relation to their individual needs and abilities, nearly all pupils make strong progress from their individual starting points in relation to the targets on their personal plans.  This progress helps them to become increasingly independent in their learning as they move through the school.  In lessons, most pupils engage enthusiastically in their learning and show sustained levels of concentration.
Nearly all pupils develop extremely worthwhile independence and life skills.  For example, older pupils develop valuable housekeeping skills that promote their ability to live more independently.  These include how to use an iron and ironing board safely, learning to shop within a budget and how to prepare healthy food. 
By the time they leave the school, this helps them to progress to meaningful destinations and promotes their ability to live more independently in the future.  Over the last three years, all pupils have progressed to further education, specialist residential college, adult service provision or employment.  
 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Teresa House is an independent special school situated in a rural setting on the north Wales coast.  The school provides education, care and therapy for pupils aged 11 to 18 years.  It is owned by Care4Children, a specialist children’s services agency that has ten independent special schools across England and Wales. 
Pupils who attend Teresa House are all residents in the linked children’s home that shares the site.

Highly effective joint working between the school’s multi-disciplinary team and teaching staff

At Teresa House, the multi-disciplinary team works together closely with teaching staff to implement the school’s ‘wellbeing for life’ programme.   This programme provides useful assessments on pupils’ cognitive, social, and emotional development.  Staff use this information to support pupils’ learning across all areas of the curriculum.  As pupils progress through the three phases of the programme, multi-disciplinary meetings ensure that pupils are engaging and achieving.   This creates an effective working relationship across education, therapy, and care staff and supports each pupil’s specific needs.
The ‘wellbeing for life’ programme underpins the school’s personal and social education (PSE) curriculum and informs the topics covered in one-to-one sessions with pupils.  Courses and awards are in place to ensure that all pupils gain accreditation in the various key areas of wellbeing.  As a result, all pupils make significant progress in their learning and in their personal and social development during their time at the school.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the adult learning in the community partnership

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation data for 2019 indicates that Merthyr Tydfil is an area of high deprivation with nearly all of its wards within the 10-30% most deprived in Wales. Across the partnership, 62% of learners live in 40% of the most deprived areas in Wales.

The qualifications’ profile of adults across Merthyr Tydfil indicates high levels of adults with no qualifications, at 14.8%, compared with the Welsh average of 8.4%.  In 2018, approximately one in five adults were qualified below level 2, compared with the Welsh average of approximately one in eight. This disparity is also evident in higher-level qualifications.

Merthyr Tydfil Adult Education’s Family Programmes provision is part of the Merthyr Tydfil ACL curriculum offer, and creates an environment where parents, carers and children have access to a range of learning opportunities within school settings, which is relevant to their needs.

Through formal learner assessment, providers deliver learning opportunities to meet individual learning needs and styles, therefore maximising an individual’s potential to achieve and have a greater degree of independence and quality of life, empowering them to access further learning and training as well as volunteering and employment opportunities. 

The programme, by involving families, works to break the intergenerational cycle of underachievement and of undervaluing education and improve the life chances of the next generation.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Family Programmes are delivered within a partnership approach between the local authority, local schools and The College Merthyr Tydfil. Performance data indicates that the provision has a significant impact on improving learners’ skills.  

Tutors teaching Family Programmes’ classes demonstrate the ability to support and nurture learners appropriately to help them build resilience. They create comfortable learning environments in which learners feel safe.

In Family Programme classes, parents and carers develop literacy and numeracy skills alongside their children. For example, learners work well on activities designed to teach their children about money through everyday experiences. Through these activities, adults gain a useful understanding of current methods of carrying out calculations. They make steady progress in improving their own literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skills and become more confident in tasks such as writing curriculum vitae, making job applications or using computer software to learn with their children.

The Parenting Programmes are delivered with groups of parents who have children / young people in the same age ranges or who have the same challenges such as ADHD or ASD. Tutors deliver courses in local community venues and with the offer of crèche facilities and refreshments provided. If groups are not in a local and easily accessible venue, some limited support can be provided for transport needs.

Prior to attending the programmes, each parent will receive at least one visit from an engagement worker. This enables the building of trust within the relationship and supports the gathering of information for a full assessment of the parent’s needs, and identification of barriers they may feel they have to attending the course(s). The engagement visits also give the parents a full overview of the support available, enabling them to prepare and build their confidence to attend the course. If a family needs wider support, with permission, referrals can be made to other partners and services.

Family Programmes have been held in primary schools across the County Borough of Merthyr since 1997 with funding from the Welsh Government in partnership with The College, Merthyr Tydfil. This initiative continued in 2015 when funding ceased from the Welsh Government, as the local authority recognised its importance.

The programmes aim to extend learning opportunities in a fun and innovative way for all children and families and create an atmosphere where learning is encouraged, valued and part of everyday life. Family Programmes increase parents’/carers’ involvement with their child’s school and education and improve their own skill levels. Programmes are inclusive and, with the support of the school, engage with ‘hard-to-reach parents’, who may lack the confidence to return to learning due to their own negative experiences of schooling, and thus support schools’ parental engagement strategies.

For some parents/carers, developing confidence to support their children’s learning can be difficult, especially if they also need help with their own literacy, language and numeracy skills. This approach aims at improving parents’ skills to support the child’s skill development and assists in motivating parents and addressing their fears – developing a ‘shared family learning approach’ that can have a lasting impact.

Parenting Support has been running in Merthyr since the inception of the Flying Start programme in 2007. The support was highlighted as one of the four key elements and entitlements for the Welsh Government’s anti-poverty programme. The support was further developed with Cymorth funding, which then became the Families First programme. The support is delivered throughout the Borough of Merthyr Tydfil, offering all parents and carers the opportunity to engage.

Evidence-based structured parenting programmes provide parents with the necessary knowledge and skills to build their parenting capacity. As a result, they increase parents’ confidence and can benefit young children with emotional and behavioural problems.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Family Programmes:

  • help parents to support their children’s learning, enabling them to become motivated and independent learners
  • support parents/carers and schools in encouraging children to gain early literacy and numeracy skills
  • encourage parents/carers to build closer links with schools as well as taking a more active part in their children’s education
  • enable parents/carers to improve their own skills, to gain accreditation and access further learning opportunities

Parenting Programmes:

  • enhance positive parenting skills to manage behaviour more effectively and promote children’s social skills, self-esteem and self-discipline
  • improve parent-child relationships and parent-parent relationships
  • develop positive attitudes and aspiration
  • strengthen parents’ understanding of child development and foster their ability to be more responsive to the needs of their children to promote their social, emotional and cognitive development and well-being increase parents’ confidence in their parenting role and skills in providing a positive home learning environment

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Family Programmes:

 Children benefit through

  • improved literacy and numeracy skills
  • positive attitudes towards learning
  • one to one quality time with the parent/carer
  • enjoyment of learning through fun activities
  • accelerated learning through enhanced motivation and enthusiasm

Family Programmes’ evaluation forms completed by parents/carers during academic year 2018-2019 indicated:

  • improved knowledge of literacy skills used in schools – 35%
  • improved knowledge of numeracy skills used in schools – 37%
  • consider doing other courses – 95%
  • consider volunteering in a school setting – 68%
  • consider other volunteering opportunities – 67%
  • consider other courses to aid child’s learning – 97%
  • learners achieving Agored Cymru accreditation – 86%

Parenting Programmes

During 2019-2020, 280 parents engaged with the programme. Two hundred and seven parents completed these interventions and reported an improvement in their own resilience and parenting capabilities. Comments from parents included

Thank you so much for having me on this course! It has been so helpful, useful and something I input every day in my life with my child. I am so grateful for the information gained on the course and also the support I have had…. Forever grateful.

I learnt a lot through this course and have used what I have learnt in my household and outside.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Brief contextual information about the provider/partnership

Learn Welsh North East, which is a partnership between Coleg Cambria and Popeth Cymraeg, was established during the reorganisation of the Welsh for Adults sector in 2016, to teach Welsh to Adults in the Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire areas. It provides a range of different courses at Entry to Proficiency levels, including mainstream Welsh for Adults, Welsh in the Workplace and Working Welsh courses. It also provides a programme of informal learning opportunities for learners to practise and extend their Welsh skills outside the classroom.

Identify how the excellent area of practice/sector-leading practice that was identified during the inspection relates to a key question, quality indicator and/or a specific aspect

Learn Welsh North East is an important and valuable part of Coleg Cambria and make a strong contribution to the aim in the college’s strategic plan to broaden bilingual opportunities for communities in north-east Wales. It succeeds effectively in supporting Coleg Cambria strategically and operationally in working towards Welsh Government’s aims in its Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers policy.

Context and background to the sector-leading practice

Coleg Cambria is committed fully to promoting the Welsh language. Leaders across the college are aware that the college’s geographical location close to the English border highlights the need to address the development of the Welsh language differently from other parts of Wales. The strategic decision to integrate Learn Welsh North East fully in the college’s infrastructure has led to the provision’s capacity to play a valuable part in the development of the Welsh language and bilingualism across the organisation.

The college places the Welsh language at the heart of every strategy. The manager who is responsible for the Welsh language is the head of provision is part of the senior management team and reports directly to the chief executive. This means that the provision is treated in the same way as any other department within the college through the business planning and self-evaluation processes. Both of these processes also ensure that the necessary investment is in place to develop provision and ensure equality.

Due to the head of provision’s wider responsibilities within the college, the provider is able to make the most of opportunities to promote all aspects of the service. As a result, this ensures that Welsh for Adults fulfils a key and core function in the college’s strategic plans to promote the Welsh language, in line with Welsh Government policies.

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity that has been identified as excellent/sector-leading practice

Learn Welsh North East makes a key contribution towards achieving the aims of Cymraeg 2050 as follows:

  • The location of provision within the college’s management structure gives it status and raises it to the same level as the college’s other academic departments. It also ensures that the Welsh language is considered when making any policy decisions across the college.

  • The provider’s priorities for improvement are an integral part of the college’s development plans, which ensures that the area plays a key role in trying to develop the Welsh language in north east Wales.

  • The role of the Welsh Link Governor within the college means that the governing body has up to-date and valuable knowledge of the latest developments in the provider’s work. The provider benefits from this as it makes beneficial use of the college’s resources and links to evolve provision, in addition to supporting the college to achieve its aims to increase the number of people who speak and use the Welsh language.

  • The provision employs over 50 Welsh-speaking members of staff, which has a significant effect on the college’s Welsh ethos.

What effect has this work had on provision and learner standards

The provider has access to the host organisation’s wider resources, with support from departments such as human resources and financial services. Tutors across the provision are also able to access the college’s teaching and learning training programmes, which ensure that they are able to develop their skills, which leads to improving quality. Staff who are not part of the provision across Coleg Cambria also enjoy easy access to Welsh for Adults lessons and benefit from the tutors’ support and expertise. This leads to raising the profile of the Welsh language within the college and in the communities of north east Wales.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Cogan Nursery School is in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan. At the time of the inspection there were 50 children on roll aged three to four years. Children attend part-time in either the morning or the afternoon.

At the time of writing, 16% of children have been identified as having special educational needs, and around 38% of children come from an ethnic minority background or have English as an additional language.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The foundation phase curriculum has been fully implemented at Cogan Nursery School. Staff are constantly reviewing their practices to ensure that they provide the best possible learning activities for all learners. The activities are primarily developed as a result of the children’s interests. Through providing these opportunities, as well as some discrete teaching, staff enable learners to develop a comprehensive range of skills and knowledge as they play.

Most children join the nursery with literacy, numeracy, and personal and social skills below those expected for their age. Many children begin school with speech and language activities or English as an additional language. Despite this, many children make good progress in the development of their skills during their time at nursery and many children make very good progress.

All staff devise, plan and evaluate activities together. Discussions involve consideration of children’s current interests. Staff’s understanding of effective foundation phase provision and child development enables them to support the children to lead their own learning when accessing the activities.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Staff have carried out research and training to further develop their understanding about how to optimise children’s learning. Observations of children’s level of involvement reinforced that children were more involved with activities that had been developed following consideration of their interests.

It was decided to devise and plan activities in continuous and enhanced provision that build on children’s interests. New activities are modelled by practitioners through the use of a range and different styles of questions. Children are freely able to explore all activities – inside and outside. Through observations, practitioners note how the children use the activities and how they are enhanced – either by the children or adults. Activities are updated or changed on a weekly basis. Recordable buttons or cards with open ended questions are used near the activities as prompts and to support the learners to develop skills in all areas of learning.

Practitioners support children to explore the different activities and track their skill development in areas of the foundation phase curriculum as well as the foundation phase profile. Timers are used to support the learners to manage the time they spend at an activity. This is particularly effective when a new activity is introduced, or if an activity is particularly popular.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

This practice has had a significant impact on the provision at our nursery. There is careful consideration to children’s interests and to their stage of development, when devising, planning and evaluating activities.

All staff know each child really well. They are constantly reviewing the activities and there is a lot of professional discussion about each child’s development.

After only a short time at nursery, nearly all children take on new learning opportunities confidently. Most sustain concentration and persevere at activities. They work independently, accessing appropriate tools and resources as they need them. Nearly all are willing to take risks, particularly in the outdoor area, and are developing resilience well. Most work well collaboratively, in pairs and small groups, supporting each other to resolve conflicts.

At the end of their time at nursery, most children make good progress and many children make very good progress in the development of their knowledge and skills.

How have you shared your good practice?

The nursery has welcomed staff from many schools within their consortium to share their practice in empowering children to lead their own learning.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Cogan Nursery School is in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan. At the time of the inspection there were 50 children on roll aged three to four years. Children attend part-time in either the morning or the afternoon.

At the time of writing, 16% of children have been identified as having special educational needs, and around 38% of children come from an ethnic minority background or have English as an additional language.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The foundation phase curriculum has been fully implemented at Cogan Nursery School. Practitioners are constantly reviewing their practices to ensure that they provide the best possible learning activities for all learners. The activities are primarily developed as a result of the children’s interests. Through providing these opportunities, as well as some discrete teaching, staff enable learners to develop a comprehensive range of skills and knowledge as they play.

All practitioners devise, plan and evaluate activities together. Discussions involve consideration of children’s current interests. Practitioners’ understanding of effective foundation phase provision and child development enables them to support the children to lead their own learning when accessing the activities. The school has a strong focus on children independently moving around the indoor and outdoor provision, with practitioners acting to monitor and support the children as needed.

The headteacher and governors at Cogan Nursery School believe our most important resource is our staff. As such, a considerable investment has been made in ensuring that the teaching at our nursery is consistently of a high quality, which aligns fully with the foundation phase ethos.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

There are high expectations of all practitioners, who are supported to work as a highly effective team. All are highly skilled professionals with a thorough understanding of foundation phase practice.

Every practitioner is valued and each person’s strengths are recognised. These strengths are shared with other practitioners to develop their understanding and practice, as well as to lead initiatives. Examples include practitioners who are trained in the use of sign language sharing this knowledge with others, so that signing is used by everyone to support children with communication difficulties; and a member of staff who is a qualified gymnastics coach supports other staff members to deliver physical activity sessions.

There are robust procedures in place to manage the performance of all practitioners, and leaders ensure that all have suitable opportunities for effective professional development. Staff training and continued professional development, as well as staff empowerment to take responsibility for their own practice, have contributed to the consistently high quality of teaching and learning at the nursery. There is consistency in everything practitioners do, for example the thoughtful and effective use of a range of different types of questions when challenging children to improve their skills and develop their understanding.

At nursery, the children are encouraged to move independently around all the many areas both inside and outside. It is the staff who are timetabled to be in a particular area. All staff work together to devise and plan the learning experiences together. This also helps to ensure the consistency in teaching and learning that is evident.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

This practice has had a significant impact on all the provision at the nursery. All practitioners are highly skilled professionals with a thorough knowledge of foundation phase practice. They know each child exceptionally well and use this knowledge to challenge children to achieve at a high level.

All staff devise and plan learning experiences and evaluate them, together. During activities and when supporting children in their play, practitioners skilfully identify the needs and interests of the children at any moment in time and modify their questioning and teaching accordingly.

Practitioners also ensure that there is a balance of challenge and support for the children, and consistently encourage children to attempt tasks before intervening. This means that, after only a short time at nursery, the children lead their own learning.

This practice has an extremely positive impact on the progress the children make and the standards they achieve. Most children join the nursery with literacy, numeracy and personal and social skills below those expected for their age. Nearly all children make good progress in the development of their skills during their time at nursery and, in many cases, make very good progress.

How have you shared your good practice?

The nursery has welcomed staff from many schools within their consortium to share their practice.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information

Coleg Elidyr is a residential independent specialist college for young people aged 18 to 30 years with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities. All learners reside in one of the college’s six residential houses set in a 180 acres in rural Carmarthenshire.

The site includes its own groceries shop, a small-holding and kitchen garden, a bed and breakfast facility, and a soap and bathbomb making enterprise. It is also home to a further 27 young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.

The college’s mission is to enable people with learning difficulties and disabilities to develop their knowledge and skills and reach their full potential, while living and working in a community.

Context and background to the practice

All learners at Coleg Elidyr have complex needs and many are non-verbal or use minimal words. Typically over half of the learners at Coleg Elidyr have autism and a further fifth present with autistic traits. All have communication difficulties, both in terms of being understood by others and in understanding what is communicated to them.

Many learners experience sensory processing difficulties and challenges in dealing with both planned and unanticipated changes and at times of transitions, for example when leaving and returning to the college, moving between residential and education environments or between sessions on their daily timetable.

Description of the nature of strategy or activity idientified as effective or innovative practice

Total communication is an approach used to support the communication of basic wants and needs and to enable individuals to become less dependent on others. It facilitates inclusion by providing structure and routine to avoid frustration and anxiety. It also provides opportunities for social interactions and supports individuals in managing transitions. It places emphasis on supporting an individual’s need for adequate processing time and how that can vary across time and situations. Effective total communication also requires a high level of effective communication between staff.

Total communication combines speaking, signing and physical resources together. Signs are always used to support verbal communication and a breadth of other tools are used depending on learner need. Across the college site, total communication resources support learner understanding, for example through communication boards in residential houses and across the college workshop and curriculum areas.

Physical resources include ‘now and next’ boards and task lists that use visual symbols and text to support understanding. Other resources such as ‘talking mats’ may be used at the end of a teaching session to support non-verbal learners in reflecting on the session and the progress they are making against their learning goals. The use of ‘sequence sliders’ that explain the steps required to complete specific tasks can make a significant impact on supporting learner independence. For example, they can be used by a learner to move around the college site un-escorted. For many young people, this will be their first experience of such independence. ‘Social stories’ are used to explain situations, events or activities and ‘objects of reference’ used alongside signing and speech to support learner understanding.

The college’s total communication approach means that no learner is excluded from daily formal and informal interactions across the college. To support the maintenance of this approach all staff complete an externally validated signing course for people with learning difficulties and disabilities. The college also has a dedicated total communication co-ordinator who works across care and education environments to ensure consistency of approaches. Additionally, all students and staff engage in dedicated weekly 90-minute total communication sessions together, where skills are built and consolidated.

Impact on provision and learners’ standards

The total communication infrastructure builds learner confidence in their environment and themselves. It supports learners to communicate in ways they may previously have been unable to do, promoting increased interactions, self-advocacy, wellbeing, self-reliance and resilience. Utilising relevant total communication resources, learners can readily access their targets and monitor their own progress.

As a result of the college’s well-co-ordinated approach to total communication, young people, who in the past may have been excluded from the vast majority of interactions around them, can live in a wholly inclusive environment where they can both understand and be understood.

At its recent inspection of the college in October 2019, Estyn inspectors noted:

“The behaviour of learners around the college is excellent. This is because, as they develop the skills to communicate more effectively, they learn to express their emotions and regulate their behaviours.”

“The college provides learners with exceptionally high levels of care, support and guidance. In particular, the very effective whole-college total communication strategy enables learners to develop their learning and social skills and prepares them extremely well for adult life.”

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information

Coleg Elidyr is a residential independent specialist college for young people aged 18 to 30 years with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities. All learners reside in one of the college’s six residential houses set in a 180 acres in rural Carmarthenshire.

The site includes its own groceries shop, a small-holding and kitchen garden, a bed and breakfast facility, and a soap and bathbomb making enterprise. It is also home to a further 27 young people with learning difficulties and disabilities.

The college’s mission is to enable people with learning difficulties and disabilities to develop their knowledge and skills and reach their full potential, while living and working in a community.

Context and background to the practice

Coleg Elidyr has over forty years’ experience of using multi-sensory purposeful activities to drive learning and development. At the college, the traditional crafts of weaving, green woodwork and carpentry are offered alongside printmaking, candle and soap making. For many learners, the processes and rhythm associated with the creation of craft objects reduces anxieties and sensory overloads. Often, the nature of repetitive activites provide reassurance and predictability to build learners’ confidence in their environments. As wellbeing and self assurance grow, so does receptiveness to learning opportunities. Engagment in craft activites also provides indirect opportunities for purposeful interactions.

This understanding of how very specific activities can enhance individuals’ ability to engage in learning has informed the college’s approach to creating highly differentiated learning programmes. Learning programmes ensure that knowledge and understanding of learners’ therapeutic and support requirements are well-matched to their developmental needs and post-college aspirations.

For individual learners this means that meaningful multi-sensory activities that enhance wellbeing are integrated into individual learning programmes (ILPs) in the seven areas of citizenship, health and wellbeing, self-advocacy, independent learning skills, household skills, digital literacy, literacy and numeracy.

ILPs are agreed, monitored and reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team comprising tutors, learning support staff, curriculum co-ordinators, house managers and a therapeutic team that includes a total communication co-ordinator, occupational therapist, and speech and language therapist.

Description of the nature of strategy or activity idientified as effective or innovative practice

Following an initial six-week baseline assessment of learners’ abilities in all ILP areas, short-term targets and medium and longer-term goals in each ILP area are agreed by the multi-disciplinary team. Learning goals accommodate identified factors such as sensory processing difficulties, physical limitations and self-regulatory needs and are addressed through curriculum areas as well as during evenings and weekends.

In practice for example, the occupational therapist may have identified how a learner may benefit from activities involving physical resistance to allow him or her to self-regulate and manage his or her anxieties. Concurrently, the speech and language therapist may have recommended that the same learner would benefit from increased opportunities to initiate social communication. Incorporating these recommendations to support the development of skills in each ILP area, a learner may be guided to take responsibility for milk deliveries from the college shop to its residential houses. By using a wheelbarrow to deliver milk, the learner’s need for activities involving physical resistance is met. It will also require him/her to engage in social interactions with the learners and staff in houses as s/he makes their deliveries.

It will also support the development of skills in all ILP areas. For example:

  • Citizenship: by developing understanding of self and others through making a contribution to community living
  • Health and wellbeing: through physical exercise to promote physical health and mental wellbeing
  • Self-advocacy: by communicating with other learners and staff
  • Independent learning skills: through problem-solving associated with undertaking tasks with increased independence
  • Household skills: through developing understanding of milk as household commodity
  • Digital literacy: as appropriate to the individual but could involve emailing to confirm milk orders
  • Literacy and numeracy: by understanding and recording how much milk should be delivered to each house

As learners progress through their programmes, they are supported to transfer vocational and life skills to the wider community, for example by working in a supermarket or planning and transitioning to post-college living.

Impact on provision and learners’ standards

The college has developed robust processes to recognise and record progress that clearly demonstrate learners’ abilities and the progress made within their individual learning programmes. This approach allows for the measuring of developmental steps between levels and the tailoring of support. It also ensures that skills development is focused and grounded in purposeful activities.

At its recent inspection of the college in October 2019, Estyn inspectors noted:

“Nearly all learners make outstanding progress. In relation to their individual starting points, nearly all learners exceed their personal targets and make exceptional progress towards fulfilling their potential. As a result they leave the college better prepared for the next stage in their lives.” 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to sectorleading practice

Monmouth School is an independent boarding and day school for boys from the age of 7 to 18 years. The school was founded as a grammar school in 1614 by William Jones, a member of the Haberdashers’ Company of London.

The Monmouth Science Initiative was set up in 2008 by the school’s current head of biology and her predecessor as an innovative partnership arrangement with five local schools – maintained and independent – to improve outcomes and influence the career choices of local sixth form pupils. It was established in response to the widely publicised concerns that have been expressed in recent years about the quality and outcomes of science education in UK schools.

The aim of the Monmouth Science Initiative is to:

  • inspire talented local pupils to follow a career in science with a view to enhancing our current global position in scientific education and research;
  • enable pupils to develop an understanding of the principles underlying scientific research;
  • bring the challenges provided by experimental science to the forefront by offering experiments which are beyond the demands of the A level curriculum;
  • enhance pupils’ confidence in the laboratory; and
  • enable pupils to develop the independent learning skills needed for higher education courses in the sciences.

Web access to the Monmouth Science Initiative can be made through the link below:

Nature of strategy or activity identified as sector-leading practice

Since 2008, Monmouth School science department staff have made increasing use of their expertise and the school’s facilities to inspire local sixth form pupils and to encourage them to consider the study of science and related disciplines further, by giving pupils opportunities to carry out interesting and sophisticated practical experiments.

Weekly practical science sessions, of an undergraduate standard, are provided for more able and talented sixth form pupils from five local schools and include activities such as genetic transformation of E. coli, amplification and lysis of DNA, radio astronomy and designing, building and programming Lego robots.

In addition to the weekly programme, teaching and training sessions are offered to staff and pupils in partner schools, either on-site or at Monmouth School. In 2012-13, this outreach programme delivered training in advanced biotechnological skills to an additional 60 pupils from local schools. A separate event also took place for a local primary school, enabling 30 pupils to build and control Lego robots.

For the last three years, an annual Monmouth Science Initiative conference has been held at Monmouth School with presentations from a range of providers. This includes local STEM-based industries, multi-disciplinary presentations from academics at Cardiff University and staff from the Monmouth School chemistry department providing pyrotechnic displays.

In the 2013-14 academic year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the death of the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, the Monmouth Science Initiative welcomed Theatr Na Nóg to perform their play ‘you should ask Wallace’. This was coupled with a presentation by the internationally renowned geneticist Professor Steve Jones who discussed the evolution of man, asking participants “Is man just another animal?”. The whole event was sponsored by Cardiff University and the Linnean Society, with over 400 pupils attending from Wales and the West country.

The Monmouth Science Initiative has developed its partnership with Cardiff University to provide two opportunities during the year for sixth form pupils to visit relevant departments and see what life is like as an undergraduate. The visits provide the pupils with the opportunity to carry out practical tasks in university laboratories and gain an insight into elements of postgraduate research.

Impact on provision and learners’ standards

The Monmouth Science Initiative has successfully supported the national STEM agenda. Through the partnership model, the school has opened its doors to over 300 pupils, with the outreach days and conferences extending this aspect of Monmouth School’s science education to well over 1000 additional pupils.

In addition to pupils’ participation in the Monmouth Science Initiative being very high, the partnership has helped them to improve their standards.

As a result, there has been a higher uptake of STEM-related courses at university by pupils who have participated in the programme and by the number of pupils gaining entry to the most competitive universities in the UK to read these subjects.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to sector-leading practice

Rydal Penrhos School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in Colwyn Bay for pupils aged 2½ to 18.

The school is an associate school in the Methodist Independent Schools Trust, which integrates a international dimension into school life by working with pupils and teachers in its successful global citizenship project, World Action in Methodist Schools (World AIMS). To further develop pupils’ strong sense of community and understanding of service to others, from a very early age all pupils participate enthusiastically in an extensive enrichment and extra-curricular programme that includes significant aspects of service and community work. This helps to ensure that the school is true to its ethos and prepares pupils extremely well for life and work outside school.

Nature of strategy or activity identified as sector-leading practice

In 2012, the school’s weekly routine was restructured to allow protected time for enrichment activities within the school day and in the school’s extra-curricular programme. Innovative arrangements were introduced to support pupils’ personal development, including a greater understanding of those in circumstances less fortunate than their own. For example, the whole-school community supports its own project for the charity ‘Action for Children.’ For this project, pupils devise and organise a range of activities in school to spend time with local young carers and make the school’s facilities and resources available to them for respite and ‘down time’. The project is based in one of the school’s boarding houses and the young carers stay to have supper with the boarders in the school dining room. Larger scale activities are also organised at the weekends, to enable them to join in the school’s extensive weekend programme. Pupils and parents in the preparatory school raise money to support the project and as a result of a presentation by pupils to bid for funding, the school’s parents association has also provided funds to help finance some of the activities enjoyed by the young carers. This project helps pupils understand the value of working for a common aim and sharing resources to support members of the wider local community.

During the summer term, the wholeschool participates in a ‘Community Action Day.’ This involves groups of pupils, led by staff and sixth formers, in gardening and restoration projects in local parks and churchyards. Throughout the year, older pupils are also involved in the school’s partnership arrangement with ‘Contact the Elderly,’ which involves providing afternoon tea parties for people aged 75 and above, who often live alone, without nearby family and friends. The tea parties take place on Sunday afternoons once a month throughout the year. This means that the pupils who volunteer to help have to commit themselves to being involved in the school holidays as well as term time. Despite this potential barrier, the tea parties are very well supported by the pupils and are now well-established in the school’s enrichment programme.

To help pupils’ have a stronger understanding of their global role, older pupils participate in the World AIMS Uganda project. This involves a group of pupils spending time researching local relief and development projects they can become involved in when visiting partner schools in Uganda, planning the itinerary for the visit and organising and running fundraising activities to offset the cost of taking part. The visit to Uganda takes place in the summer holidays, and involves a wide range of activities working with the partner schools in Mbarara and with the RUHEPAI charity, which specialises in rural development. To help develop greater independence and a stronger sense of responsibility, pupils hold their own planning sessions, supported by school staff and the World AIMS coordinator.

The school’s enrichment programme, together with an extensive extra-curricular programme, makes a significant contribution to pupils’ personal and social development.

For example, through the enrichment programme, younger pupils take part in a rota of directed activities such as STEM, introduction to Latin, chess, practical skills and biogeography. As they move up the school, pupils can choose to participate in a wider range of creative, physical and intellectual activities, which include, for example, an Amnesty International group and a peer mentoring scheme.

About half of the sixth form pupils choose to study for the International Baccalaureate Diploma and about half follow A level courses. Although there is a core requirement to fulfill ‘creative, action and service,’ within the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme, in order to provide all sixth form pupils with further opportunities for personal growth, each term they all select at least three activities from the school’s combined enrichment and extra-curricular programme. This includes opportunities for involvement in additional community service, creative arts and a range of clubs, sporting activities and fixtures. As a result, older pupils have a greater awareness of themselves and their role as responsible members of the school and wider community.

Impact on provision and learners’ standards

Pupils’ participation in the enrichment programme, and in particular the community service and charity activity, is very high. The programme has helped pupils to:

  • have better recognition and understanding of different social and cultural backgrounds in the school and wider community, which helps them to respect and value diversity;
  • develop a greater sense of responsibility and well-developed understanding of service to others;
  • increase their confidence and resilience by taking part in projects that challenge them and require emotional and physical commitment; and
  • develop their organisational, team working, leadership and communication skills through working with young people and adults from a variety of different backgrounds and cultures in a range of contexts.