Making Every Day Count

Manor Mead is a Special School for children with severe/profound and complex learning difficulties or an autistic spectrum disorder. It is a Surrey County Council maintained school providing education for pupils aged from 2 to 11 years old.Federated with Walton Leigh School. School Vision Everyone in our learning community will be supported to achieve, contribute and live life to the full.  Special Needs Manor Mead School provides education for pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties. The school is able to make provision for pupils who have the following additional needs:  Physical Disability Communication Difficulties Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties Sensory Impairment; Hearing, Visual or both Autistic Spectrum Disorder Challenging Behaviour Epilepsy and other additional medical needs Sensory Processing Difficulties

Teaching A number of special approaches are used when appropriate to support our work with pupils at Manor Mead  Every pupil has a 'Learning and Communication Passport': this is drafted and agreed with parents in the first term and updated regularly. It details the child's likes and dislikes, the barriers to their learning and how these should be addressed.  

Signs, Symbols and Objects of Reference are used to support the development of communication. The extent to which each of these is used for each pupil will depend on individual need. The school, parents and the Speech and Language Therapists work together to decide what is best for each child. The signs from the Makaton Vocabulary are used throughout the school and workshops are run for parents at the school. PECS, TEACCH; some specialised approaches are particularly suited to individual children, both PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) and TEACCH (Teaching and Education of Autistic Children and Communication Handicapped) are used with some pupils.  

Positive Options; several staff at Manor Mead have been trained to use physical interventions using 'Positive Options'. If a child is displaying challenging behaviour which puts the child or other children at risk, trained staff will be called on to intervene. Physical interventions are used as a last resort when other approaches such as distraction have failed. The School has a Physical Interventions Policy which follows national guidelines.

Individual Work and Education Plan We recognise that every pupil at Manor Mead has different individual needs and we address those needs through Individual Educational Plans (IEPs).  

Pupils benefit from working as a class group: they learn from each other and to share attention and take turns. However they also need to work in small groups or individually so that their individual needs can be addressed. Pupils’ IEPs are reviewed every term. They list the short-term targets which are steps towards the long-term targets agreed at the Annual Review. These targets will address the areas important for that child’s development, usually incorporating communication skills, cognitive development and/or personal and social education.