Welcome to Maple Class

Our Nursery SEND Provision class offers 15 hour and 30-hour sessions to 2,3- and 4-year-olds who have been identified as needing a low arousal learning environment which focuses on early communication and interaction skills. The morning session starts at 8.30am and finishes at 11.30am, the afternoon session starts at 12.10pm and finishes at 3.10pm and our full day session starts at 9.00am until 3.00pm. There are two Maple class rooms side by side. The team in Maple class are led by Miss Atherton, who is a qualified HLTA. Each room consists of three Teaching Assistants and has the support of the HLTA across both rooms. The whole team in Maple, take time to get to know the children and adapt approaches to match children’s individual interests.

We are very flexible and experienced in accommodating a wide range of complex needs. Your child will be assigned a key person who will get to know them extremely well. During the key person time, the member of staff working with a child will identify the next steps in learning. The team work closely with the school SENCO and our specialist SEND teacher Dr Helen Bibby, who has provided training on Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism and Blank Level questions. The staff will be using their voice, body and face to develop early communication skills, alongside using a Total Communication Approach. Some activities will be child led and others adult led depending on the support children will need in moving their learning forward. Also, interventions such as speech and language therapy take place and our own private SALT will be working alongside the team to offer advice and next steps. This then feeds into the children’s individual support plans and is carried out daily.

There are four areas which provide a learning space for the children. The indoor space is designed to offer a sensory environment, which provides continuous provision opportunities, taking into consideration each child’s sensory needs. This includes an area to explore rhythm, rhyme and sensory stories, creative area to explore a range of mark making, sensory area for edible sensory play and water play. There is also a fine motor area to support developing children’s physical skills. Resources such as cause and effect toys are used to develop joint and shared attention skills. All resources are carefully chosen and placed, to support and develop children’s communication skills, through requesting.

The outdoor learning space in Maple class offers a space for the children to access throughout the school day. In the garden there are opportunities for recognising ourselves using mirrors, using climbing equipment, such as slides, as well as exploring water or the sit in sandpit, riding bikes or resources to support self-regulation.

We also have access to our very own sensory room. This offers a quiet and calm environment, that allows opportunity for sensory input and supports children in regulating their emotions. A range of resources such as mirrors, bubble tubes, fibre optic lights, weighted blankets and textured floor tiles, all support the individual needs of all our children.

An additional space is our quiet and low arousal room. This is a space for children to carry out 1-1 work or small group work with their key person. It encourages children to focus on a task without the distraction of other children or resources. “Bucket time” is carried out daily in this space and really helps to gain children’s attention.

All spaces support emotional regulation, social communication and transactional support. The resources in environments meet the needs and interests of the children and in doing so meet the needs of each unique child. They are adapted and changed to enable children to achieve their full potential. In these calm spaces, adults use Makaton signs, objects of reference and pictures to develop and support children’s early social communication needs. Whilst encouraging children to also communicate their needs with an adult in this way, both indoors and outdoors.