Key Information 

In this section you will find the latest SEND information report and other updated relevant information. 

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT OWING TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC SENSORY ACTIVITIES ARE BEING CARRIED OUT FOR CHILDREN IN THEIR BUBBLES AND NOT BEFORE SCHOOL. Since May 2015, Teaching Assistants at Manea Primary School have been running a daily Sensory Circuits programme. Children are initially invited to the programme which runs from 8:20am until 8:40am. The children then go to their classrooms to start the school day. The programme also runs during the school for children who may need the extra session.

What is Sensory Circuits?

Sensory Circuits is a recognised sensory motor skills programme designed specifically with children in mind. The children take part in specific activities which help to organise the sensory mind in preparation for their school day. This will either help the child become more alert of their senses which they may encounter, or they will become calmer.

How is Sensory Circuits run?

Each child needs to take part in three types of activities in a specific order. These are; 1) Alerting 2) Organising 3) Calming. They complete the activity for approximately 4-5 minutes before moving on to the next activity. They may complete as many activities in each section as they wish.

Other alerting activities include: Morning run.

Other organising activities include: Ball bounce

Other calming activities include: Wall press ups

If you would like further information with regards to Sensory Circuits please contact the SENDCo, Mrs Revell via the school office, who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

TA training - May 2019

During the May training day, teaching assistants were shown the Sensory Circuits programme in the school hall. All the equipment was used and they discussed the positive impact Sensory Circuits has on children. This also gave the teaching assistants the opportunity to use the equipment and ask any questions.

The feedback from the teaching assistants about the session was:

• The session gave a good understanding of the equipment used and how this benefits the children.
• It was useful to know why it is used and how it can be used outside of the classroom and sensory room.
• I enjoyed sharing my sensory circuits with everyone and sharing why it is important.

Lego Therapy - TA training day May 2019

What Lego Therapy is and how to deliver the intervention was shared with the teaching assistants. It was discussed what the positive impact this has on the children and how difficult it can be for some children to give and receive instructions. The teaching assistants took part in a Lego Therapy session and soon realised how tricky this was when they had a go themselves!

The feedback from the teaching assistants was:

· Doing the intervention was good. It enabled us to know the struggles and how it works.

· It was good to find out the purpose, rules and how to implement Lego Therapy.

· It gave a good insight into the benefits of this activity. It made me think how important the correct language is!

· I enjoyed seeing Lego Therapy in practice and actually doing the activity.

· I realised how sometimes it is difficult to find the correct words.

· It was really interesting!

Playground training - May 2019

During the training day in May 2019, teaching assistants explained to each other the positive impact of playing playground games with children at both playtime and lunchtimes. This has an impact on children socially, physically and will give adults, who work with children who have EHCPs, opportunities to support the children’s speech and language. Teaching assistants were given examples of games to play both outside and inside when it is wet play, and participated in playing some of these.

The feedback from the teaching assistants were:

· An excellent morning—learning through play.

· It was good to have the understanding of what the rest of the teaching assistant team do to help support each individual child in the school.

· It has been useful to know how different people run different groups.

TA training day - May 2019 - Reflection

The TA training included sharing and discussing different interventions and support teaching assistants provide at Manea Primary School. The training included Sensory Circuits, Maths activities across both Key Stages, playground games and Lego Therapy.

The feedback from the teaching assistants regarding the whole day was as follows:

• I enjoyed the connection we have as a team and it shows that we can have fun!
• It was a great laugh!
• We all supported each other in the different activities. It was a good morning and good team bonding time.
• It is really interesting to see how the different training is starting to link in with each other.
• It has been useful to know how different people ran different groups.
• A really fun day!
• An excellent morning learning through play - it is ok to fail and how to deal with this when we do.
• It was good to see how different the two key stages are.
• Having the understanding of what the rest of the TA team do to help support each individual child in the school.
• It was fun and enjoyable and it gave us the chance to speak to each other.
• It was good to see what others do.