Communication friendly school

Communication Friendly School

Here at Ashbury Meadow Primary School we believe that all children have the right to be heard and value the importance of them being able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and needs to others in an effective way. As a school we have worked endlessly to ensure all staff have been trained in communication and language development and that we are consistent in our methods and approach. In 2019, we were delighted to be awarded with our ‘Communication Friendly Setting accreditation’ and have continued to embed this approach in and around school.

Our most effective strategies include the use of visual mind maps which are created by each class at the start of a new topic to identify what they already know followed by what they learn over the course of the topic. The colours and images included on the maps help children to both access and recall knowledge more efficiently.

‘Colourful Stories’ boards, ‘Now and Next’ cards and task plans have been highly effective in the earlier school years and to support children with additional needs helping them to break down different structures. These include story sequence, daily routine and individual lessons. We have also implemented visual time-tables in every class across the school.

We have also focussed largely on further developing children’s vocabulary through the implementation of strategies and methods learnt from the training. Such strategies ensure that ‘New’ or ‘Tricky’ vocabulary is identified prior to looking at a new text or covering a new topic and is taught to the children using activities that deepen their understanding and enable them to be able to use it themselves, in context.

Finally, all staff at Ashbury Meadow use the ‘Blanks Levels’ grid to guide their own interactions with pupils  and ensure they communicate effectively.