Ickburgh School is a Special Needs School accepting children and young people from 3 to 19 years with special educational needs and disabilities. The majority of children and young people who attend this school have severe learning disabilities and learn at a slower pace than their peers in mainstream school or are profoundly disabled with significant learning needs, sensory impairment, and most likely a physical disability. The school's expertise is in teaching children and young people with severe and profound learning disabilities, and we are proud of our extended provision for children with multisensory impairment. We are also now accepting a small number of early year’s children who have autism and sensory needs as part of their profile and creating an environment and program to support their needs. You can ask for permission for your child to attend Ickburgh School by visiting us and meeting with our Family Liaison Workers, Zynna or Jenny. Zynna or Jenny will take you around the school and will let you know whether this might be the right place for your child. If this is the right place for your child Jenny Zynna will help you to apply to Hackney Learning Trust, SEN panel.
There are coordinated support and intervention from our physiotherapists and occupational therapists helping children with physical and mobility difficulties by improving their outcomes, whether that be improved seating, movement, or walking, or improve fine motor skills to hold a pencil or spoon, and chop using a knife or scissors to cut. With the support of speech and language therapists and our trained staff, children develop their communication, language, and reading skills, using sign, speech, low and hi-tech equipment.
The curriculum design supports a varied, colorful, and stimulating approach to learning. Independence, choice-making, turn-taking, and communication are promoted, so that our children and young people feel happy, safe and secure, and thrive from the challenge to do their very best. We have a specific and dedicated approach for children and young people with profound disabilities, which is called PMLD@ickburgh. Events are cued in through song and rhyme, and repetition. Time and space are given to allow pupils and students to respond. Time and space are given throughout the day to take care of pupils' personal, medical and physical, and sensory needs.
Children aged from 3 to 5 years transfer from home or a local nursery with the support of their portage worker. Some parents and carers like to visit the school beforehand and take part in our ‘Stay and Play’ afternoons. Early years pupils access an early year’s program which is designed to promote learning through discovery through play and games. The areas of learning are communication and language, physical development, personal, social, and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design. Children are largely gaining skills by encounter and awareness, attending and responding, interacting and participating, exploring and anticipating events. Children aged 6 to 11 years are largely broadening and acquiring skills in Literacy, Maths, Science, Computing, PHSE (Personal, health and social and emotional) development Art, History and Physical education tailored to meet their needs. Each term primary pupils are immersed in a theme such as a countryside, music, rocks fossils and dinosaurs, and space.
Secondary pupils aged 11 to 16 years, many of whom transfer from mainstream provision to this school, access all curriculum subjects as do their counterparts in mainstream provision. Secondary pupils are broadening, acquiring, and consolidating skills and understanding in Literacy, Maths, Science, Computing, PHSE (Personal, health and social and emotional), Art, History and Physical education tailored to meet their needs. Secondary pupils explore and learn about a theme in depth such as Russia, World War 2, ‘A very long time ago, and space. Sixth Form Students, aged 16 – 19 years embark on a three-year course preparing them for their adulthood. Students engage in participative learning experiences acquiring personal and social skills or broadening experience, taking part in modules such as independent living (housekeeping, looking smart, using money, meal preparation), work-related learning (horticulture, personal safety, using computer technology, hospitality), Leisure, recreation and sport (residential experience, visit the spa, arts center, sports venue, library), Communication and numeracy ( enterprise scheme, shopping, visiting a café, cinema), and Personal development and citizenship (Out in the community, relationships, knowing about myself). Work is accredited by ASDAN Towards Independence, and certificates of achievements or Diplomas are gained by students to take to their next place of learning or work.
The Pupil Premium 2017.18 was allocated to local authorities and schools with pupils on roll in January 2017 that are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any time in the previous six years (i.e. since summer 2011). Schools have the freedom to spend pupil premium, which is additional to the schools delegated budget, in a way they think will best support raising the attainment of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils. This school has a statutory responsibility to report on its use of the pupil premium to tackle disadvantage and promote pupil outcomes for these learners. In the January census, 2017 Ickburgh School recorded 96 learners of whom 47 were eligible for pupil premium funding, for the financial year 2017.18. The school, therefore, received a total of £68,345.
Learners have a significantly greater difficulty in understanding and acquiring skills than the majority of their peers, and all learners experience cognition, learning, communication, and interaction needs. Many experiences a physical or sensory disability with complex medical needs, (46%) some of whom have life-limiting illnesses, which prevents or hinders them from undertaking personal care tasks and using facilities or resources without support 38% have Severe Learning Disabilities (SLD) of whom a small proportion experience social and emotional difficulties and 16% of learners are on the autistic spectrum.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families and carers has a role to play in safeguarding children. To fulfill this responsibility effectively, all professionals should make sure their approach is child-centered. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child. Safeguarding is defined as protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of health and/or development, ensuring that children grow up in the provision of safe and effective care, and optimizing children’s life chances. Ickburgh School places the highest priority on safeguarding. Ickburgh School has taken note of the guidance in the DFE document “Keeping children safe in education: statutory Guidelines for schools and colleges” published in September 2016 and it is regarded as part of the school’s safeguarding and child protection policy. As such it MUST be read in conjunction with this policy and should be kept as an appendix to the school’s child protection policy.
