Students and Staff from Maple View School found the amazing SENAD Group Ram, Pirate Sheepmate this morning on their first visit to the Derby Ram Trail. They are going to do the trial along with their classmates over the coming weeks. Along with the SENAD ram, there are 29 other rams located throughout Derby City Centre, all sponsored by local businesses. Visitors can follow the ram trail by purchasing a map from the museum or by downloading the Derby Ram Trail app which is free and downloadable through the App Store and Google Play.

Children follow individualised curriculum pathways, either semi-formal or                   subject-specific, according to ability, with EHCP Outcomes and preparation for life after Maple View at the core of their pathway.

The multi-disciplinary teams work together to support development and learning through the establishment and tracking of Learning Intentions.

Children engage in classroom-based learning, including daily literacy, numeracy and PSHE activities. In the afternoons they can access horticulture and small animal care, cooking, Forest School and community-based activities and have the opportunity to work with children from other classes. There is a strong focus on creativity and          well-being, with music at the start of the day and yoga to close. A half-termly book, accessible to all, is the focus of whole-school cross-curricular planning, encompassing the areas of music, art, literacy, science and the humanities.

Individual and group therapy sessions take place within the classroom, within therapy rooms, outdoors or in the community throughout the school day, with communication and sensory-regulation at the heart of the programmes.

Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) is at the heart of the              curriculum, and intertwined into daily activities, with a focus on social development and equipping children with the skills and resilience required to safely and effectively participate within a range of communities. We belong to the ‘Kindness School’          programme and daily acts of kindness are encouraged and celebrated.

Progress is measured, using MAPP (Mapping and Assessing Personal Progress) in four key areas:

¨ Independence: from dependent to independent

¨ Fluency: from approximate to accurate

¨ Maintenance: from inconsistent to consistent

¨ Generalisation: from single context to many contexts

At the end of spring half term we have been able to celebrate the success of our children’s progress during their Review of Assessment & Planning (RAP) Meeting.

This half-term the children at Maple View School are learning about friendship and loss through the whole school text ‘Waiting For Wolf’. Fox and Wolf spend all their days together, talking and laughing, swimming together in the lake and watching the stars, until one day, Wolf is gone…

Matt Thomas, Outdoor Instructor from our sister school Bladon House, is helping us establish a Forest School. He is an experienced and qualified practitioner and contributed to the development of the EQUALs Semi-Formal curriculum ‘My Outdoor School’. The EQUALs schemes of work focus’s on process rather than product. Progress is skills-based and lateral, rather than linear, measuring the quality of skills rather than an end goal. This enables children with learning difficulties and disabilities to engage in activities which are meaningful and motivating, relevant and functional and ultimately support their independence.

The sensory room at Maple View School provides a controllable environment for the children where we can select and control sensory experiences that are tailored to meet the child’s needs. This creates an environment where the children can feel safe, learn and develop their senses. It also promotes their general well being.