Stanmore House School
Stanmore House School is a grant-aided, residential special school in New Lanark.
It is owned and managed by Capability Scotland. It provides care and education for
children and young people aged from five to 18 years with complex additional
support needs arising from learning, physical, communication and health care needs.
Inspectors noted the following features of the school’s work which contributed to the
school receiving an evaluation of “excellent” for Q.I. 5.3 in the third edition of How
good is our school? 1Evaluations take account of the context of the school and these
features are just part of the overall approach the school takes to improving young
people’s learning experiences and achievements.
Meeting learning needs
Tasks activities and resources
Tasks and activities are very well planned and differentiated to meet the wide range
of need within each class. Tasks are appropriately challenging for learners and the
pace of learning is appropriate. Practical activities such as cooking, recycling and
shopping are used well to engage young people in their learning. Teachers use
skilful and well-paced teaching approaches which emphasise active learning. Staff
are skilled at adapting their approaches in the light of children’s responses and
interests. All children and young people have their modes of communication
identified and supported by the well directed, consistent and focussed use of a
range of communication supports such as, signifiers, symbols, photographs, signing,
communication books and speech. Eye gaze technology is now being introduced to
a number of young people. Staff make very good use of technology to support
children in their learning, mobility and in accessing the curriculum. ICT, including
interactive plasma screens, is used to motivate and support children and young
people in their learning.
Teachers skilfully exploit opportunities for children to learn through their senses in
different contexts and locations, for example during sensory cookery, interactive
story telling and science lessons. Across the school, strong partnerships with
parents support children’s and young people’s learning Parents commented very
positively on the consistently high quality information and support available to them
and their children from the school team, including allied health professionals.
Identification of learning needs
Stanmore House has excellent systems for identifying children’s and young people’s
strengths and the difficulties they face. Staff are highly knowledgeable about the
specific needs, supports and communication systems required for each child. This
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http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/HowgoodisourschoolJtEpart3_tcm4684258.pdf
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information is easily accessible in individual profiles. The school has clear and
highly effective arrangements for identifying young people’s needs This includes
very good multi-agency working to share information to help ensure effective
planning and delivery of support for pupils on an on-going basis as needs change.
The school employs a number of specialist staff such as physiotherapists, speech
and language therapists, occupational therapists, a dietician and nurses. They all
contribute very effectively to assessing needs and to planning treatment and
therapeutic interventions. Key staff, including representatives from local authorities,
attend regular reviews to discuss the overview of needs and identify next steps and
appropriate involvement. Young people attend reviews and are supported to give
their views. Progress is continually assessed through the review of individualised
education plan targets. A range of methods are used to ensure the effective sharing
of information including review meetings and minutes, team meetings, and regular
contact with external agencies through meetings and e-mails. Placing authorities
thought that the school have good assessment procedures and meet young peoples’
needs well. Staff are sensitive and responsive to children’s individual health, social
and emotional needs. They are fully aware of each child’s strengths, interests, skills
and difficulties and employ a range of strategies to help minimise upset to the child
and others around him/her. The school has a high level of awareness of risk and
carries out risk appropriate assessments for individual children when participating in
both routine and one-off activities.
Roles of teachers and specialist staff
Staff are committed to providing a caring, secure and nurturing environment for
children. They take a holistic approach to promoting health and wellbeing.
Therapists work very effectively with young people, staff and parents. The speech
and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists are involved
in setting and evaluating targets with teaching staff and provide input into a range
communication and movement programmes. The occupational therapist is working
with staff and parents to assess seating and functional difficulties and provides
guidance to staff and parents. The school nurses provide very effective support to
young people with health care needs, their parents and staff. Each therapist sets
targets within his/her own area that contribute to improving children’s health, fitness
and function. They are all involved in providing training for staff including assisted
eating and drinking. Clinics are often held in school to minimise the disruption to
children’s education. The allied health care team ensures that children’s needs are
addressed in a holistic way and seek to remove or reduce any barriers to their full
participation in the curriculum. Young people benefit from a high level of support in
classes and during activities. Classroom assistants are valued team members who
make a considerable contribution to meeting learning needs, providing focussed
support to children both within and out of school. Staff are skilled at manual handling
and support children well during movement activities, transfers and transitions.
Meeting the requirements of the legislation
All children and young people have individualised educational programmes. These
include long and short term targets in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing as
appropriate to individual learners. These are reviewed regularly and are effective in
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ensuring that identified learning needs are shared and monitored amongst all
relevant staff. Appropriate coordinated support plans are in place for children. The
role of partner agencies is clear and reviews are well planned. Children who are
looked after are well known to staff. National Care Standards and the principles of
GIRFEC provide a focus for the core work of staff in the residential service.
Registration with SSSC is being well monitored by managers; staff training is
progressing well with a good vocational programme in place and staff undertaking
HNC qualifications. Residential care staff are well supported with regular
supervisions and annual staff appraisals.
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