Pupil Support
At Collingwood School and Media Arts College, we believe in providing our young people and their families with a range of tailored support. We have established specialist provisions to achieve this and we work with a range of therapists. We also have the experience of our highly trained staff who provide in house therapeutic support.
Specialist Provisions
Collingwood Connect
Community teaching allows pupils who are unable to attend school full time to receive an education at home or in the local community. It is also a provision for pupils who have been out of school for an extended period.
Within Collingwood Connect, pupils receive personalised learning plans which meet their needs.
Collingwood Connect also has a dedicated website.
Stepping Stones
Our Assessment and Admissions Centre identifies the correct pathway for pupils, making the transition into Collingwood school smoother.
We identify any gaps in learning and any interventions that will be required in order to meet the needs of our pupils.
Personal Education Centre
Within the Personal Education Centre we use bespoke timetables which focus directly on the pupils’ needs and interests. Interventions take place to promote a positive mindset and improve mental health and we use Thrive assessments to identify needs and provide strategies to develop emotional literacy.
Therapeutic Services
Pupils have access to a range of therapeutic services. We will work in partnership with families, other specialists and staff to identify how best to meet any identified outcomes for a pupil. All pupils have access to the support of the therapeutic services, which will vary from pupil to pupil. We support pupils in a variety of ways, some of which are detailed below.
Speech and Language
We oversee the implementation of Speech and Language plans which have been developed by Speech and Language Therapists.
Our team uses a range of bespoke resources, such as visual prompts and we have regular contact with the Sensory support Team to support pupils with Hearing Impairment.
Occupational Therapy
The Occupational Therapy team assesses pupils who would benefit from support, and provides OT plans which can be implemented by school staff.
Training and support for school staff is offered as requested.
ASD Intervention
Support, advice and strategies are provided to school staff to support learners with ASD.
Additional support is put in place for pupils with ASD, for example providing visual prompts
Literacy Intervention
We support all aspects of literacy intervention including assessment and monitoring.
Our library has an extensive range of exciting fiction and non fiction books, including audio books.
Numeracy Intervention
We support all aspects of numeracy intervention including assessment and monitoring.
Our maths department has an extensive range of tools, resources and experienced staff to help engage pupils/students and develop their numeracy skills.
Educational Psychology
Our Educational Psychologist carries out assessments on pupils and students for their EHCP, and delivers bespoke psychological support to students.
Psychological support programmes are devised for pupils and we also offer support to families and carers.
Kalmer Therapy
We offer confidential counselling to pupils either on a long or short term basis.
We offer drop in sessions for a wide variety of identified needs as well as advice and support for families and carers.
Play Therapy
A trained therapist observes playtime to gain insights into a child. The therapist can then help the child explore emotions and deal with any unresolved trauma.
Through play, our pupils can learn new coping mechanisms and how to redirect inappropriate/negative behaviours.
Dance Therapy
In our Primary department we work with Little Movers to provide our pupils with enjoyable and fun dance therapy sessions. These sessions are brilliant for developing coordination, flexibility and increasing general health and wellbeing.
Lego Therapy
Lego therapy in Collingwood is child led and facilitated by a trained member of staff as a means of developing social and communication skills. Teams are separated into key roles of ‘Engineer’ ‘Builder’ and ‘Supplier’ and our young people have to work together to build models using LEGO® bricks.
Equine Assisted Therapy
Equine Therapy helps our young people build confidence, self- efficiency, communication, trust, perspective, social skills, impulse control, and learn boundaries. Horses have similar behaviours to humans, such as social and responsive behaviours. It is easy to create a connection with the horse and so develop trust. We work closely with the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA).
Drama Therapy
We use drama to enable the pupils at Collingwood to develop their social, communication and presentation skills. In previous years our pupils have staged grand productions to large audiences through the coaching of the drama specialists at Mortal Fools.
Music Therapy
We have engaged with Nordoff Robins to provide Music therapy for the pupils at Collingwood. Music therapists are trained to tune into each movement, reaction and expression of the pupils they’re working with, the music can then be used as a method to express emotions which cannot be expressed verbally.
Horticulture Therapy
At Collingwood pupils and students have the opportunity to participate in horticulture therapy. This is the process of using plants and gardens to improve physical and mental health, as well as communication and thinking skills.
Animal Assisted Therapy
At Collingwood we use a number of animals to enhance and compliment our traditional therapies. We have Suzie the dog, our resident rabbits Snug and Beau, Hamilton the hamster and Chip the fish.
Outdoor Learning (including Forest School)
Outdoor learning is more than just knowledge-gathering. It helps learners develop socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. It creates a safe, non-judgemental nurturing environment for learners to try stuff out and take risks.
Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a learner fits within it. Our approach to risk means that learners constantly expand on their abilities by solving real-world issues, building self-belief and resilience. We believe that risk is more than just the potential for physical harm, it is holistic. There are risks in everything we do, and we grow by overcoming them. Forest School, helps participants to become, healthy, resilient, creative and independent learners.
Our outdoor learning takes place in our purpose built Roundhouse, at Northumberland Zoo and at Clark’s Nature Reserve.
Story Therapy
From September 2021, we are piloting a project with Big Little Butterfly where pupils will access counselling sessions and then use artistic outlets such as art, drama, creative writing or dance to express the emotions and issues raised during the counselling sessions.