Today I visited a school for the mentally and physically unwell. This school provides learning opportunities for babies, children and adults, and has about 500 children and adults attending. It provides parenting classes for parents with babies who have mental and physical needs. It has a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and psychologist all on hand to support the parents to develop practical skills to help their babies with their development. The setting was very laid back and it was good to see professionals supporting the parents, all working together to meet the needs of the babies.
The school is publicly funded and also runs with private donations. They offer dog therapy here and the children and adults with behavioural issues seemed very settled with the presence of the dogs. One child in particular who they said was very disruptive was so loving towards the dogs.
From the ages of 13 upwards the children and adults are encouraged to develop skills and are trained in the kitchen to provide food for the canteen. They are taught about hygiene and good food preparation. The children and adults also make creative items which are sold, and the funds are put back into the school by buying resources. It was so rewarding to see.
One of the highlights for me was that I noticed that the children and adults who couldn't speak verbally had no non-verbal forms of communication. I said how beneficial that this would be to introduce basic Makaton signs to use throughout the school. I did a short workshop with the teachers and they said they would introduce this. It was a very rewarding experience.
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