Teaching Approaches	SRP Curriculum	Physical and Sensory Needs
Outdoor Environment	Testimonials	FAQ’s

SPECIAL RESOURCE PROVISION- GREEN CLASS

Green Class is our Special Resource Provision for nursery age pupils who have Social Communication Needs, including Autism, Moderate Learning Difficulties and Severe Learning Difficulties.  Green Class provides places for up to 14 pre-school age children. 7 in the morning and 7 in the afternoon. The unit provides a communication-centred environment that supports the children in all areas of their learning. There are an additional 8 Supported Places and these children are able to spend time in both mainstream and within the Green Class to have opportunities for specialist interventions. Children in Green Class and Supported Places are under the direction of a Specialist Teacher.

The team consists of a teacher in charge, a specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SaLT), an Occupational Therapist (OT) and early years educators. By combining equally the disciplines of teaching and speech and language therapy, the team is able to plan and deliver a highly specialised curriculum.

 

SCERTS

In Green Class we follow the SCERTS Model.  The SCERTS programme is broken down into 3 areas which focus on “SC” – social communication, “ER” – emotional regulation and “TS”- transactional support.

Social Communication enables us to focus on how children are communicating and set targets for small steps of progress, concentrating on encouraging children to interact with others and use different methods of communication.

Emotional Regulation focuses on using adult support to enable children to maintain sensory regulation throughout the day and reduce anxiety.

Transactional Support  focuses on what practitioners do to support the individual child’s needs and interests through changing communication styles, adapting the environment and providing the tools to enhance learning. TS covers anything used to help others understand and respond to the child’s needs better

This distinctive model provides a framework that focuses on relationships with adults and adaptations to the learning environment to support those children within the Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The SCERTS model is a toolkit to help aid children with communicational, social and emotional difficulties and further develop these skills.

 

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Teaching Approaches

Green Class uses a range of strategies and teaching approaches to support children with communication development including:

• Aided Language Display (ALD) boards – using visual aids to develop spontaneous requests for children to begin to comment and share their thoughts and ideas.

• Attention Autism groups – During group time, our focus is Attention Autism activities.  This is an adult directed group using motivating objects, to develop focus, attention, and engagement – the building blocks of speech and communication.  Through group time, we introduce vocabulary, concepts and learning.

• Intensive Interaction and Non Directive Play – adult’s copy children’s sounds and actions.  Intensive interaction tries to create a communication environment that is enjoyable and non-threatening to the child.  The approach is taken from the way that we first start to communicate with naturally developing infants, where interactions are short and involve noises, touch and eye contact.  Interactions are brief but can grow over time.  Here our children begin to develop an understanding of the reciprocal nature of communication.

• Colourful Semantics – We use Colourful Semantics in class to help children understand the structure of the language.  Colourful Semantics is a Speech and Language Therapy technique which uses colour coding, to help children learn the important elements of a sentence and how to join them together.  It focuses on question words i.e. who, what doing, what and where.

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Physical and Sensory Needs

Children’s physical and sensory needs are met in variety of ways including

• Sensory Circuits – a short motor skills programme carried out on a daily basis to help calm and regulate children and enable sensory integration.  Activities include bouncing or rolling on a peanut ball, massage and deep pressure.

• Sensory Play – It includes any activity that stimulates children’s sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, or hearing. Children engage with a range of dry and wet textures and those that are tactile defensive are gradually encouraged to engage with new textures in a non-invasive way. 

• Specifically focused OT (Occupational Therapy) activities to address sensory integration, vestibular and proprioceptive needs.

The children are taught to allow adults to help them with mutual regulation of their sensory needs.

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Outdoor Environment

The children access an extensive outdoor learning area which provides them with opportunities to explore safely and develop their gross motor skills.  Green Class also has their own smaller garden to enable adults to focus on teaching play skills and gross motor development.

 

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Parent Testimonial

‘Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the very first experience our son had in a nursery. Thank you for taking us lost parents by the hand and guiding us quite like the children ourselves, you have been there to tell us through the sleepless nights, the meltdowns and every moment of fear it would be ok. Thank you for being our ray of hope and sunshine. Thank you for showing us how wonderful our son really is.’

Child’s Voice

‘Ben looks at his Green Class social story all the time. He looked at the  Green Class photos  as soon as he woke up this morning. He looks for the story and brings it to show me repeatedly throughout the day – and when it’s finally time to go, he can’t get out the door fast enough. .’

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Green Class Frequently Asked Questions

 How are Green Class places allocated?

Places are not allocated by the Nursery.  A Local Authority Panel decides on place allocation and children are presented to the panel by professionals that already know them.  This includes Portage Workers, Speech and Language Therapists and Paediatricians.

What is Green Class?

Green Class is a specialist provision within Surbiton Hill Nursery for 14 children. 14 pre-school age children (7 in the morning and 7 in the afternoon) who have a Social Communication Difficulties or Autism. There are an additional 8 Supported Places and these children  spend time in  mainstream and to have opportunities for specialist interventions within the Green Class.

How are Green Class children supported?

Green Class has a high staff ratio of 4 staff members to 7 children and is also supported by a Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Educational Psychologist.  All staff in Surbiton Hill Nursery have had training in working with children with Social Communication Difficulties.

What teaching methods are used?

As all the children within Green Class find processing language difficult, a wide range of teaching methods are employed, including structured visual timetables and the TEACCH system.  Aided Language Display Boards is used with children with limited expressive language and difficulties in initiating. Songs and rhymes are used all the time and improve attention and listening.

Central to the Green Class curriculum is developing the child’s ability to communicate. 

Does Green Class also support the development of social skills?

Developing the children’s social skills is a core part of Green Class.  Children are taught: to see themselves as part of a group; play skills; turn taking, responding to others.

Do the Green Class children ever mix with the mainstream classes?

The children have group work; free choice activities; individual work based on their own targets and eat a snack in Green Class.  Children have opportunity to join the mainstream environment during their free flow session (supported by an adult). 

Which other professionals work with my child?

The Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) works with the children once per week.  The SALT also supports and develops staff in Green Class and runs parent workshops. Home visits are sometimes arranged.

The Occupational Therapist (OT) assesses the needs of each child and writes programmes for the first term, which are implemented by staff.  The OT also provides advice for parents.

The Educational Psychologist (EP) observes the children and supports the Educational Health Care Needs Assessment Request. 

How will I know what my child is doing and how well they are doing?

After the first half term a review meeting is held with the professionals involved in Green Class.  We also use Tapestry, our Online Learning Journal to keep you up to date with your child’s learning and the activities they are involved in.  We meet with parents each term to review each child’s progress. 

How do I communicate with Surbiton Hill Nursery on a day-to-day basis?

For those parents who collect/drop-off their child there is the opportunity to speak with staff at the beginning or end of the session. If this is not possible then communication can take place via email.

How can I best support my child?

Surbiton Hill aims to work in partnership with parents to provide a consistent, structured approach to the benefit of the children.  Parents are encouraged to attend review meetings and workshops.  

The school Special Needs Coordinator is Hannah Tayler contact through senco@shn.kingston.sch.uk