Welcome to Aspen

Aspen is Orchard Academy’s Special Educational Needs Unit for students with a range of needs, many of our students have an Autism diagnosis and complex communication challenges. We support students across three separate classes, in mixed year groups from Years 3 to 6. Each class has a different pathway: scaffolded, sensory and sensory/structured, depending on the needs of our students.

We have three classes in Aspen:

• Orange class (sensory/structured) with Maria (Teacher), Farzana (SEN ISP), Mehreen (SEN ISP)

• Purple class (scaffolded) with Josh (Teacher), Natasha (SEN ISP) and Wendy (SEN ISP)

• Yellow class (sensory) with Kasia (Teacher), Marie (SEN ISP, Ophelia (SEN ISP)

• Nikki is the SEN Department Lead, and Natalia is our ISP who supports across all classes, as well as being our Forest School Teacher.

Whole Communication Approach

The Aspen department uses a range of communication methods to support learners. We endeavour to model positive verbal communication with the help of visual aids (Widgit and PECs). Our daily routines also include signing using Makaton. We would always encourage parents to learn some simple signing to support their children, as it can help to remove verbal communication barriers. We aim to hold regular parent sessions to help develop an understanding of these strategies. If you would like to discuss this further, you can contact Nikki or the class teachers for further information.

Trips/Outings

We aim to provide a range of opportunities for all our Aspen students to go out and explore different places. Our students will explore climbing centres, the safety centre, Parks Trust walks, farms and more, as part of the offer. We know how important it is to develop life skills, and these outings offer so many ways that students can grow as social individuals. 

The Curriculum

Aspen’s curriculum is based on the EQUALS curriculum model. This is built around our core subject skills and knowledge, but also provides additional lessons for learners to develop life skills, alongside academic expectations. Therefore, the subjects we cover are literacy, numeracy, history, RE, science, phonics, PE, music, arts & crafts.  Our overall objective for our students is that they are preparing for adulthood, developing whole communication skills to support them academically. With preparation for life at the core of our ethos, we also have lessons in forest school and life skills. The aim is to ensure that Aspen students are being given the breadth of learning that their peers receive, and also have targeted lessons to support their journey into adulthood.

Literacy

As part of each topic that we study over a term, we will engage in a range of stories and non-fiction books to extend the children’s knowledge and vocabulary, as well as providing opportunities for communication with adults and peers. All work is completed in short teacher lessons, followed by supported small group and 1-2-1 work.

Reading and writing are part of our daily routine; this includes shared reading and 1-2-1 reading with adults. Students will also complete independent work to help them understand structure by sequencing what they have read. Students will also learn about key characters/people, how to describe them and how to write sentences to describe/explain. All students are encouraged to write or engage in mark-making as independently as possible to develop the range of literacy skills. All the literacy work supports our whole communication approach.

Numeracy

Each day, we work on numeracy skills to help our pupils build context for numbers and what they are used for. During each term, there is a focus on using and applying number knowledge, like learning about time, shapes, etc. Work is completed in short teacher lessons, followed by supported small group and 1-2-1 work, which is targeted to each pupil’s outcomes. 

PE

All of Aspen will have PE three times a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please ensure your child is wearing the appropriate footwear and is not wearing any jewellery, specifically earrings. All long hair should be tied back.

Homework

If you would like specific homework for your child, such as a reading book or phonics work, please speak to your class teacher directly. We encourage you to read with or to your child as much as possible, as well as taking them out to different places with different people so they can experience new situations. Any money recognition and safety recognition – crossing the road, etc. - that you can do would be excellent.

General

Please ensure that your child has their named book bag and named water bottle (water only) in school every day, and that your child’s uniform is also named. Please check your child’s book bag each day, as notes or messages from the day are often sent this way. We also ask that you check your Arbor account regularly for any whole-school communication. 

If you have any questions, please talk to either your child’s class teacher or the school office. 

Useful websites

• Primary resources, homework help and online games - BBC Bitesize
• https://www.topmarks.co.uk
• https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/index.html 
• https://www.purplemash.com/login/  - Your child should have their personal login to access personalised learning activities given in the coming weeks.
• https://www.sumdog.com/user/sign_in - Your child should have their personal login to access personalised learning activities given in the coming weeks.
• Alphablocks - CBeebies - BBC - Alphablocks can help pupils learn phonics and sounds