Therapies and Interventions

We have several therapies to support us in school. These include, Speech and Language Therapists both from the NHS and Hampshire County Council. The therapists spend time in school as directed by their departments. When in school they work closely with class teams to; carry out assessments, produce speech programs for delivery in the class, facilitate speech and language groups, support with Augmentative Alternative Communication systems (AAC), liaise with families and ensure maximum communication opportunities as well as to provide continuing professional development in line with the Federations priorities and needs of the young people attending.

All staff have received Blank Level Training to support the hierarchy of communication and questioning and this is used in class on a day by day basis to ensure appropriate challenge of the curriculum to support pupils in their next learning steps. The support staff who have undergone this training have assessed all pupils Blank Level and this will be an ongoing approach that will support identifying those pupils who require intervention from either the Speech Therapists or from the staff in school. Some staff are ELKLAN trained and this supports them and other staff members in the delivery of the curriculum in an accessible way.

For one morning a week we have a Sensory Integration Occupational Therapist, who will assess children with a range of sensory needs; this is funded by the school and the intervention is directed at the discretion of the school. Children can be referred to her by the class staff as appropriate but their time is not used to fulfil EHCP priorities which are directly funded by the Local Authority. Our therapist works with school staff to modify and adapt the school environment and to provide some support on a short term basis for individual students to support the creation of a sensory diet for implementation by classroom staff not the therapist generally. This can be used both in school and at home to help reduce sensory difficulties. The sensory integration Occupational Therapist’s time is funded privately by the school.

The school hosts a variety of clinics, ensures minimal time lost out of school for appointments and can reduce anxiety for some children. Currently the following specialists will come into school: Community Paediatricians, Audiology, School Nursing Team, Podiatry, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapists where a pupil or student has this on their EHCP. The school will also support with referrals to these agencies.

The Treehouse and the Bird House are our Nurture Rooms on each site. These provide specialist provision for children requiring support with their mental health. Specialist interventions such as Emotional Literacy Support (ELSA) and Therapeutic Active Listening Assistants (TALA) takes place in these settings.

All staff have Thrive training with two Thrive Practitioners within the school. Thrive underpins our approach to behaviour support and interventions; this is an emerging practice that will continue to develop.

The Federation has had ‘Simon Says’ bereavement training and is working towards accreditation in this area, this means we offer bereavement support and therapy to help a child cope with loss and have access to further support from the charity as required.

Staff are trained in writing social stories and in providing Comic Strips to support understanding of social situations, this is sometimes done in tandem with Speech and Language Therapists.

Some support staff are trained reading assessments, the school uses the Salford Reading assessment, this enables the Federation to track progress in reading and to pinpoint those pupils who require further intervention.

The school’s emerging database supports the Federation in identifying those pupils that require specific intervention to support them in making progress, whether this be academic, social or a life skill. The database is being rolled out from September 2026. The database measures progress of pupil’s academic data as well as live data such as their achievements, behaviour, minutes out of class/off task and progress towards their IEP targets and informs which interventions are required and by whom. Additionally, it supports pupils in receiving recognition for all their successes including towards the value bands which they work on throughout the school year.