Windsor Park School
Windsor Park School makes provision for deaf children and young people who
require a high level of support and/or alternative communication. The primary
department is situated adjacent to Bantaskin Primary School and the secondary is
housed within Falkirk High School. The current roll is 15. The sensory impairment
peripatetic service is also based in the school and supports families, children and
young people who have a hearing or visual impairment from diagnosis to school
leaving age.
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? 1 Evaluations 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
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Tasks, activities and resources
A strong feature of Windsor Park School and enhanced provisions is the highly
inclusive learning environment which supports the development of children’s and
young people’s communication very effectively. This has led to exemplary conduct
from children and young people and an enthusiasm for learning. The school and
sensory service are very well resourced allowing staff to focus on meeting individual
learning needs. Quality resources are provided by the sensory service for use in
other schools and establishments. Soundfield systems2 are being installed in
schools throughout the authority where deaf children are educated. These are
proving very popular with mainstream teachers who report that all children benefit
from an improved listening environment. Information and communications
technology is used well in classes and within the service. At all stages, all staff
provide opportunities for children to use technology such as 360 degree magnifier,
Perkins brailler, Internet, pictures, videos etc. to ensure understanding of vocabulary
or give a background to their learning. The service is piloting FOCAL (focusing on
communication and learning) included interventions such as oral to written narrative,
colourful semantics, colour coded phonics, school start, fun with narrative, creating a
visual environment, and early evaluations show this to be valuable for all children.
Children are very well prepared for inclusion in mainstream class lessons with preteaching taking place before the mainstream lesson. This allows deaf children to be
more fully involved in the lesson and more likely to achieve the success criteria.
1
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/HowgoodisourschoolJtEpart3_tcm4684258.pdf
2
A sound field system is a sound system for schools that improves the learning environment
for the entire class by improving the sound environment in the classroom. Designed
specifically for speech sounds, these systems greatly enhance speech understanding.
Sound field ensures an even distribution of sound from the teacher, the students and any
multimedia equipment.
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Opportunities for post lesson teaching are available if required. Across the school
and sensory service, strong partnerships with parents support children’s and young
people’s learning. Parents commented very positively on the consistently high
quality assessment information and support available to them and their children from
the school team, including the specialist sensory service teachers.
Identification of learning needs
Staff are highly knowledgeable about the specific needs, supports and
communication systems required for each child. This information is easily accessible
in individual profiles. The school has clear and highly effective arrangements for
identifying young people’s needs from diagnosis onwards. This includes effective
multi-agency working to share information to help ensure effective planning and
delivery of support for pupils on an ongoing basis as needs change. Teachers are
exceptionally sensitive and responsive to children’s individual 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 them. They know the children and their families well, are very aware of their
health needs and take a holistic approach to promoting health and wellbeing.
Children from an early age are supported to take responsibility for care of their
hearing aids and other equipment.
Roles of teachers and specialist staff
The senior managers and highly skilled, responsive staff are sensitive to the
changing needs of children and young people. They have developed very effective
partnership-working with parents, other schools and agencies to support and
enhance learning and achievement. All staff have a very good knowledge of the
needs of young people including family needs. Staff are highly committed to
providing a caring, secure and nurturing environment for all learners. Support staff
are valued team members who make a considerable contribution to meeting learning
needs, providing focussed support to young people both within and out of school.
Support staff work alongside young people very effectively to support and extend
their learning. Staff from local authority schools with enhanced support for deaf
children meet regularly with Windsor Park School. Together, they plan learning and
evaluate deaf children’s progress to improve how they meet the needs of deaf
learners. They make adaptations to learning and teaching and resources as
appropriate. This allows them to support children more effectively. Speech and
language therapists work closely with young people, staff and parents. They are
involved in setting and evaluating targets and have input into communication
programmes. Staff encourage former pupils to return to talk to young people still at
school and so provide positive role models for them to talk. Staff also use signing
when talking to each other when children are present. Catering staff take a caring
approach towards the children and young people. Windsor Park staff regularly
deliver CPD to staff in other schools and establishments including a regular input into
the newly qualified teacher programme.
Meeting and implementing the requirements of the legislation
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All children and young people who attend Windsor Park School have additional
support plans. The plans include targets in literacy, numeracy and health and
wellbeing as appropriate to individual learners. Targets are reviewed regularly and
are highly effective in ensuring that identified learning needs are shared and
monitored amongst all relevant staff. Children and young people who receive
support from the sensory service are considered for a coordinated support plan.
Windsor Park staff attend reviews of the plans. Children who are looked after are
well known to staff.
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