Facilities & Approaches
Facilities
The Sherwood Manor Campus is a grease 1 & 11 listed building with large grounds that is currently in the process of being adapted to cater for the specialised learning needs of autistic children and young people and those with moderate learning difficulties. There is currently a large dining/assembly hall, group learning room and large sports hall equipped with a rebound trampoline. Following ongoing refurbishment there will be a library, music room, art room, science room and life skills room. Outdoor areas currently include an internal courtyard for outdoor learning and regulation, football pitches, large playing field and forest school area. There are also plans to install a regulation zone in the external courtyard, a climbing area, swings, trampolines and gym equipment and an outdoor learning and horticulture area.
The newly opened campus currently has 4 classes consisting of year 6/7 pupils and the number of classes will be extended annually for year 7 at secondary transition. All classes have access to quiet rooms for learning and regulation. These are equipped with a range of facilities including quiet tables for reading and learning and/or sensory equipment (interactive lights, acoustic mats, bubble walls and music) to support regulation. There is a purpose built sensory gym fully equipped with suspended equipment and a crash pit.
Children can access the facilities on our other Campuses which include the Swimming Pool on our Sherwood Park Campus and our indoor climbing equipment on our Sherwood Hill Campus.
There is a focus on equipment and resources that are supportive for Autistic children and young people and those with moderate learning difficulties, including regulation equipment (specialist swings, trampettes, gym balls, weighted & deep pressure equipment, chewys, sensory toys & quickshift music etc), transactional supports (visuals, now-next-then boards etc) and highly specialist communication systems (low tech & high tech).
Approaches
Learners are provided with regular, planned opportunities to use and apply their skills across all curriculum areas and across settings. They have regular access to community environments and support is given to parents and carers so that they can generalise their skills and learning.
In addition to our whole school approaches and interventions, for our cohort on this campus we prioritise the development of co & self regulation, engagement, communication, self-occupancy and life skills. We work to ensure that we use autism friendliness (Autisme Centraal) and a low arousal environment and approaches. The approaches and interventions used include:
- Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Supports (SCERTS) framework
- Regulation profiles using the process of Self Reg and informed by Autism Level Up
- Well-being & regulation focused behaviour support, including low arousal approaches and Studio 111
- Sensory interventions including Therapeutic Listening and principles of Ayres Sensory Integration theory & practice, sensory circuits, Sensory Stories
- Play based approaches such as intensive interaction and DIR-Floortime
- Attention Autism
- Robust augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems (e.g core vocabulary boards, Proloquo-2-Go, LAMP words for life), Makaton, objects of reference
- High level of transactional support including; visual time-tables, ‘now, next & then’, visual schedules
- TEACCH, Social Stories, Comic Strip Conversations, Talking Mats
- Environmental and task adaptations & video modelling
- Assistive technology
Our Accessibility Plan provides full information on the accessibility of the Manor Campus and future plans.