Context, This project will bring together 6 Special Schools all with a slightly different area of focus and expertise but all school are aware of the social isolation of their pupils. Our project aims to tackle this issue and enable our pupils to play a more productive and involved role in our European society. Our efforts aim to ensure we raise skill levels of these vulnerable students and have a direct and life long impact on the connectivity with society in general. Objectives, Our key objective is to improve the social inclusion of our pupils through a range of apporaches, up skill students competencies (through staff training) enabling them to communicate more effectively within school, across schools and with society in general. These skills will lessen their social isolation and enable them to connect better with everyday life. We have devised a varied and interesting range of training and activities to raise skill levels and challenge all. The development of higher level literacy and numeracy skills are important components of this. Our objectives also include improving key competencies and skills, lessening social disadvantage and breaking down the barriers of disability. Securing these objectives will improve the life opportunities of our students and offered staff a professional development program demonstrating the benefits of life long learning and the real benefits of sharing skills and expertise. Numbers & profile, the numbers of students in our 6 Special Schools vary from 100+ in the largest to approximately 60 in one other, all of the profiles show similarities in that their learning is significantly delayed, our students are in need to much higher levels of support than their mainstream counterparts. Description of activities, the activities selected for training are directly related to improving student skills and competencies in the areas of communication enabling students to get to know each other better eg social skill training. The activities and training sessions are designed to be varied and responsive to changing times and enable students to link with others safely and to engage with society at a higher level. They are also designed to be suitable for special school pupils and crate an enthusiasm for this topic so it is seen as an enjoyable learning activities Methodology, All activities have already been discussed across the group and the methodologies selected have been tried and trusted in our schools and have a high success rate with our students, At times it is multi sensory, at other times it may be interactive or direct teaching. The methodology depends on the area of focus. It is also varied and engaging, the drama and dance is an innovative and enjoyable means for students to increase their expressive skills, whilst the e-safety/ICT training is at the level staff and students will find interesting and enjoyable. All programs will be tailored and modified to meet the needs of individual classes, pupils and staff. Likely results & impact, For a project to be worthwhile it must have a benefit and we need to gauge very carefully have effective our efforts have been. We will gauge the impact through evaluations and surveys of both staff and students and parents, we aim to raise the abilities of students to get to know each other in a number of areas, within their own classrooms, across their own school and between the partner schools, results will be posted on our website and agreements will be established in regard to the gathering of evaluations and surveys. Potential long term benefits, For our project to have been successful we need to up skill students in the process of "Get to know me", this will include people places and many aspects of our European society. the longer term benefits will be students who have improved key competencies and skills and lesser social isolation. We hope to share our project and its findings at a local and regional level and also across wider educational gateways. Life long learning is an important aspect for both student and staff and our project aims to have a longer term impact as we realize the benefits of sharing skills and expertise throughout our life journey.
Context, This project will bring together 6 Special Schools all with a slightly different area of focus and expertise but all school are aware of the social isolation of their pupils. Our project aims to tackle this issue and enable our pupils to play a more productive and involved role in our European society. Our efforts aim to ensure we raise skill levels of these vulnerable students and have a direct and life long impact on the connectivity with society in general. Objectives, Our key objective is to improve the social inclusion of our pupils through a range of apporaches, up skill students competencies (through staff training) enabling them to communicate more effectively within school, across schools and with society in general. These skills will lessen their social isolation and enable them to connect better with everyday life. We have devised a varied and interesting range of training and activities to raise skill levels and challenge all. The development of higher level literacy and numeracy skills are important components of this. Our objectives also include improving key competencies and skills, lessening social disadvantage and breaking down the barriers of disability. Securing these objectives will improve the life opportunities of our students and offered staff a professional development program demonstrating the benefits of life long learning and the real benefits of sharing skills and expertise. Numbers & profile, the numbers of students in our 6 Special Schools vary from 100+ in the largest to approximately 60 in one other, all of the profiles show similarities in that their learning is significantly delayed, our students are in need to much higher levels of support than their mainstream counterparts. Description of activities, the activities selected for training are directly related to improving student skills and competencies in the areas of communication enabling students to get to know each other better eg social skill training. The activities and training sessions are designed to be varied and responsive to changing times and enable students to link with others safely and to engage with society at a higher level. They are also designed to be suitable for special school pupils and crate an enthusiasm for this topic so it is seen as an enjoyable learning activities Methodology, All activities have already been discussed across the group and the methodologies selected have been tried and trusted in our schools and have a high success rate with our students, At times it is multi sensory, at other times it may be interactive or direct teaching. The methodology depends on the area of focus. It is also varied and engaging, the drama and dance is an innovative and enjoyable means for students to increase their expressive skills, whilst the e-safety/ICT training is at the level staff and students will find interesting and enjoyable. All programs will be tailored and modified to meet the needs of individual classes, pupils and staff. Likely results & impact, For a project to be worthwhile it must have a benefit and we need to gauge very carefully have effective our efforts have been. We will gauge the impact through evaluations and surveys of both staff and students and parents, we aim to raise the abilities of students to get to know each other in a number of areas, within their own classrooms, across their own school and between the partner schools, results will be posted on our website and agreements will be established in regard to the gathering of evaluations and surveys. Potential long term benefits, For our project to have been successful we need to up skill students in the process of "Get to know me", this will include people places and many aspects of our European society. the longer term benefits will be students who have improved key competencies and skills and lesser social isolation. We hope to share our project and its findings at a local and regional level and also across wider educational gateways. Life long learning is an important aspect for both student and staff and our project aims to have a longer term impact as we realize the benefits of sharing skills and expertise throughout our life journey.