Provision

Crowdys Hill School is very special.

We have just under 300 pupil on roll with a wide range of needs. We support children and young people with an EHCP, whose primary needs are cognition and learning with communication and interaction needs.

All of our pupils have communication needs with varying abilities. Every need and support offer is individual.

We have Primary, Secondary and Sixth Form pupils here.

They follow an adapted National Curriculum, with an emphasis on breaking down their barriers to learning. They receive all of the same opportunities that a neurotypical pupil would in school. We offer a broad curriculum, with a frequent offering of trips and community activities.

From Primary, where the emphasis is on building their ability to attend to their learning, to Sixth Form where the emphasis is on building up their skills to gain employment, or be as independent as they can be, our pupils are stretched and challenged.

Our young people move on to employment, college courses, or social care with community links.

Have a look at our more detailed provision information if you are interested in our school.

Learn more

Primary

Secondary

Sixth Form

Communication & Interaction

We offer...

Social communication skills developed through access to social skills support sessions.

Social communication developed through PSHE.

Social communication developed through weekly THUNK assemblies.

Social skills developed through social sessions for specified groups.

Social communication encouraged and developed through weekly drama lessons.

Social communication skills are modelled throughout the day by all staff.

Advice from SALT followed by all staff, strategies used to promote.

All staff trained in communication strategies.

What do we offer all pupils at Crowdys Hill School?

(Extra support as advised by SENDCo/ Assistant SENDCo)

Modelling of appropriate responses daily, as needed.

Strategies from THRIVE used by staff to reduce anxieties in school.

Weekly access to targeted mental health practitioner.

All staff trained in using a THRIVE approach.

School counsellor to advise staff of strategies to use in class.

Weekly wellbeing lessons, incorporated into PSHE sessions.

PSHE and RSE classes weekly to consolidate and emphasise understanding of friendships and relationships.

Tutor time used to address social or relationship issues arising.

Adapted physical education sessions; and sport and leaisure sessions in Sixth Form.

In primary and some KS3 classes - weekly yoga sessions.

Attention Autism sessions.

Access to school counsellor as needed.

Use Zones of regulation.

All staff trained in intensive interactions.

Most teaching staff trained in attention autism.

Most staff trained in use of specific communication strategies.

Some staff trained in use of Signalong.

Signalong used in primary.

On site speech and language therapist, to observe and advise in lessons.

Rapid response from our SALT on site.

Integrated Speech and Language support in the class room using a total communication approach.

Staff trained to use communication strategies for the classroom.

Extra Support

Extra support, as advised by SENDCo/Assistant SENDCo:

Small Weekly group session with SALT and specialist support.

Targeted weekly small group session with trained SALT.

Use of AAC (augmented assistive communication) as advised.

Specialist equipment to allow all pupils to access all sessions.

Autism Support

Most of our primary pupils have an autism diagnosis, and about one third of the secondary and Sixth Form pupils are autistic. We are a completely inclusive school, and believe that every child and young person (CYP) can achieve their goals when they are supported in the right way. Autism is a lifelong difference that can bring many rewards in life, such as the ability to look at the world in a different way. We believe that when the environments are changed to support these different ways of thinking, many of the barriers to learning are removed. READ MORE ▾

We follow guidance from the Autism Education Trust frameworks, which support the view of enabling environments. All of our staff have autism training from the National Autistic Society or the AET. Some staff are educated to master's level in autism. We have a very experienced staff who are able to adapt their pedagogy to the needs of the pupils. In primary phases, we have staff trained in Attention Autism, which is a programme of activities and autism friendly pedagogy, to develop the child's attention span and focus. We also use other support programmes across the school, individualised to the needs of the child or young person (CYP), such as Intensive interactions, TEACCH, and sensory support. We offer a variety of ways for pupils to communicate, such as verbal, use of PECs, visual aids, AAC, and Signalong. We have sensory rooms in primary and secondary, where staff are trained in its usage, to promote self-regulation and sensory balancing. We use a variety of SEN supports in classes across the school, such as wobble cushions, seating slopes, ear defenders and calming areas. Staff frequently lead sensory sessions in primary and secondary during lesson time to maintain calm and balance. We have been lucky enough to become a teaching Hub for the AET, which will allow us to maintain our standards in staff training and offer outreach to other teaching staff in Swindon. We are very proud of the inclusive community that we have developed and supported at Crowdys Hill School.

Numeracy Support

Our curriculum approach allows for pupils to develop their mathematical skills. We ensure there are ample opportunities to apply these skills to real life scenarios and situations. READ MORE ▾

By presenting concepts in different ways, we allow for reparation of skills allowing pupils to consolidate knowledge & understanding. The curriculum is sequenced and coherently progressive across the key stages. Teaching staff work together to ensure there is a consist approach across the maths curriculum. The leadership team regularly focus on maths learning across the school to ensure good coverage and progression. Staff support pupils appropriately across all phases using a wide range and variety of resources provided to engage and stimulate learning. We believe that mathematical and numeracy skills are an essential part of the pupils learning as they provide all pupils with powerful ways of exploring, investigating and understanding the world around them. Maths develops independence and decision-making skills which are integrated throughout the whole curriculum. We teach maths and numeracy at Crowdys Hill School at a level that is appropriate to the learning styles, needs and motivation of each pupil. This might involve discrete daily maths lessons following the National curriculum or be part of a cross curricular, thematic approach to teaching and learning for pupils who have more complex learning difficulties. Throughout the year, pupils participate in projects which include cross curricular subjects, and this provides teachers and pupils opportunities to explore and spend focused time on the maths and numeracy involved in that particular topic. We aim to teach maths skills through all learning situations that the pupils encounter during the day such as playtime, snack time or lunchtime. Many opportunities are made to ensure that the pupils use their skills in practical situations such as cooking and shopping. Where possible pupils are entered into external accreditations with the aim of gaining the highest level possible to allow pupils to achieve their goals and aspirations for their next steps towards adulthood. In KS4/5 students student maths and functional maths through Edexcel, with some students working towards GCSE maths. Our aim is for all of our students to become as independent as possible and develop the necessary mathematical understanding to preparing them for adulthood. “Learning for Life” is at the heart of everything we do.

Phonics Interventions

Phonics intervention for struggling readers empowers students with the tools they need to read unfamiliar text. When they can apply phonics strategies to decode new words, any text becomes accessible. READ MORE ▾

At Crowdys Hill School we use phonics as an approach to teaching reading, and some aspects of writing, by developing learners’ phonemic awareness. This involves the skills of hearing, identifying and using phonemes or sound patterns in English. The aim is to systematically teach learners the relationship between these sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them. Phonics emphasises the skills of decoding new words by sounding them out and combining or ‘blending’ the sound-spelling patterns. When students begin their journey at Crowdys they are assessed for their knowledge of phonics. All students in years 7, 8 and 9 will have two literacy sessions per week. These sessions are adapted to meet the individual needs of the students. (Students in other year groups will have small group or 1-1 sessions where needed). Phonic skills are taught following the Letters & Sounds programme. Letters and sounds set out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills over six phases, with the aim of pupils becoming fluent readers by the end of phase 6. Each phase will cover different letter sounds/digraphs, it teaches all the three essential skills of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation necessary for reading and spelling. In the last phase, the children will learn some of the rarer GPCs (Letter to Sound correspondence). They will be taught how to spell the past tense forms of verbs, learn about suffixes and prefixes and continue to develop their knowledge of the spelling system. Grouped sessions enable pupils to practice word building, word reading, dictation and phoneme manipulation exercises at their current working level. Within our literacy sessions we have a carousel of activities, a ‘teach’ table where the group are intensively taught by the teacher working through the targeted sounds using a variety of methods to ensure understanding. At the start of each session students will revisit and review. The students will play a quickfire game to practise something they have learned before and help build their confidence. The students will then be taught a new phoneme/grapheme or a new skill - this will be taught in a fun, multi-sensory way. They will then move along to the ‘practise’ table where they will play fast, fun games to practise the new skill/sound they have just learned. The final table is the ‘Apply’ table. The children will have a go at reading or writing sentences that involve the new skill/sound they have just learned. They will also have the opportunity to use the iPads and complete work set either through fun games or IXL (online learning programme). Once students have completed phase 6 or we find that phonics is not suitable for them, we focus on comprehension (although this is still targeted throughout the programme when practising reading). Targeted questioning relating to the chosen text supports and enables pupils to recall information, sequence and summarise events, identify and comment on the structure, features and organisation of texts as well as promote the use of deduction (drawing conclusions from the information given in a text) and inference (reading between the lines to draw conclusions which are based on, but go beyond the information in the text). Being able to read is the most important skill students will learn during their schooling and has far reaching implications for lifelong confidence and well-being. Reading feeds students’ imagination and opens up a wonder house of treasure and joy for curious minds. Therefore, at Crowdys Hill School, our priority is the teaching of reading skills and the enjoyment of literature, thus enabling our pupils to become lifelong, confident readers.

Sensory

Crowdyshill school has two sensory rooms, once based in the Primary building and the other in the Secondary building. All staff are trained on how to use the equipment in these rooms and plan specific activities based on individual EHCP targets. Sensory rooms are also used to help the children and young people self-regulate with support from an adult. We have a large amount of equipment in school from dark dens to gym balls, light boxes to weighted items, and ear defenders to wobble cushions. Our Occupational Therapists advise staff on equipment to use for individual children and then train staff on how to use it. Items such as ear defenders and wobble cushions are readily available in classrooms for pupils to access if they feel they need them. READ MORE ▾

Across the school we use the Zones of Regulation. Pupils are taught how to recognise feelings and emotions in themselves using this. Alongside this the staff work with the pupils to teach them strategies to help them move between the zones to help them calm or become more alert. Strategies include wall pushes, yoga and breathing exercises. Across the school sensory and movements breaks are planned by teachers for whole classes and individuals to give pupils opportunities to self-regulate across the school day. In Primary staff plan weekly sensory activities based on individuals needs and occupational therapist advise. This includes activities based on oral sensory seeking behaviours such as food tasting, making different movements and sounds with the mouth, and activities involving blowing. Other activities include sensory play where pupils are encouraged to explore a variety of different textures from custard, to rice, to flour. In Secondary, Year 7 and 8 pupils take part in SPARKS motor skill activities, which includes sensory activities. This continues in other years for pupils that need them.

Behaviour

Behaviour can have a negative impact on a class/group or individual. Here at CHS, we recognise that all behaviour is a form of communication. Rather than applying sanctions in the first instance, we try to find the cause of the displayed behaviour and apply a THRIVE approach to supporting pupils. Often with some time out or use of a designated safe space a CYP is able to communicate an underlying issue. We can then discuss and develop strategies that may help in and around the classroom in the future. READ MORE ▾

With the excellent support network in school we are often able to liaise and work with other practitioners i.e. ELSA, S&L and the school counsellor. We do have a behaviour support area for any CYP unable to continue to work in the classroom for whatever reason, this is also for staff to place students if their behaviour has become unacceptable. This space allows for de-escalation and gives an opportunity to talk through any concerns or anxieties with our Behaviour Lead, who is fully trained in the THRIVE approach. The main aim is to get the CYP back into class so they can continue learning. We have a zero-tolerance policy to bullying, homophobic and racist incidents. The physical or verbal abuse of staff or students is also not accepted and clear sanctions are implemented. In the event that a sanction is required, we try to ensure consistency and successfully use restorative justice to help resolve many situations. We resolve to include parents/carers in the resolution of any incidents as we recognise the importance of working in partnership with families to support pupils.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about our school's values and ethos, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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