Welcome to the Specialist Provision Centre at Onchan School
Within our SPC we currently have 3 classes named the Sea Otters, Seals and Whales Classes. Children are carefully placed into the classroom space that best suits their own individual needs and learning styles.
We are fortunate to have a team of Senior Education Support Officers and Education Support Officers who work alongside the 2 Specialist Provision Centre teachers to create bespoke curriculums for each of the children within our setting.
New Starters 2024
Please see below for all the information you need to start at Onchan Specialist Provision Centre in September 2024.
If there is something missing or you are unsure of, please see our School Information tab on our main page where you can find out more. For any other queries, please e-mail our school office at: OnchanEnquiries@sch.im
Our Parent Booklet is a great place to start finding out about starting school in September:
We are fortunate to use the Tapestry Learning Journal platform for sharing photo's video's and observations of our children, for parents to see their progress. Parents are also encouraged to share photo's and experiences of their children in the home environment - sharing successes which enables the SPC team to get to know the children and families , in turn better understanding the needs of our learners. Please see more information below:
https://tapestry.info/parents-carers.html
Curriculum
Within Onchan SPC we have adopted the EQUALS curriculum, designed to meet the diverse needs of our learners. The curriculum is divided into 4 pathways - The PMLD Pathway, Informal Pathway, Semi-Formal Pathway and Formal Pathway. Through getting to know our children individually, communicating with parents/carers and other agencies and professionals, we are able to assess our children and plan for their holistic development within a suitable curriculum pathway.
Curriculum_Pathways_Onchan_SPC.pdf
Pathways
PMLD_Pathway_on_a_page.pdfInformal_Pathway_on_a_page.pdfSemi_fromal_pathway_on_a_page.pdfFormal_pathway_on_a_page.pdf
What our curriculum looks like at a glance:
Attention Autism is a part of our day to day curriculum offer, focusing on attention building and high levels of engagement. Learners work their way up from stage 1 (Bucket) all the way to stage 4 (Independent activity). Sessions are led by teachers and support staff, making the content as messy and motivating as possible to allow for engagement from our learners.
My Sensory Play - Sensory exploration - accepting new textures and learning to play alongside and with my peers. Sensory play forms a part of our day to day curriculum offer within Onchan SPC. Water, sand, shaving foam, rice, beans, pasta, snow, slime, cereal to name a few! Support staff use this opportunity to model language as well as encourage engagement and exploration from our learners.
My Outdoor Learning - within the SPC we offer our children a variety of outdoor learning experiences, including a weekly forest school session within the Outdoor Learning area at our school. Life skills trips to outdoor spaces such as glen's, beaches and plantations are included in our curriculum offer. Making use of our outdoor decking area for summer water play, learning to ride bikes and play with a variety of equipment is also available. Making use of all the areas around our school including the Reception playground, main school playground and school field/adventure playground are also part of our day to day curriculum at Onchan School.
My Physical Well-Being - within the SPC children are provided a variety of opportunities to develop their physical well-being. Weekly MSR sessions at the NSC, Bike4Life sessions at the NSC outdoor track. Swimming sessions at Glencrutchery swimming pool or Hydrotherapy at St Ninian's lower school. Sensory circuits in the sports hall, life skills trip visits to a variety of parks all contribute to a healthy physical well-being curriculum for our children. Providing all our learners with opportunities to build on existing skills as well as learn new skills, with the help of our dedicated staff team.
My Independence
Within the Onchan SPC our curriculum focuses on life skills and independence. Through activities such as shopping, cooking, dressing/undressing and travel we empower our learners to become as independent as possible. Through weekly life skills trips to shops, cafe's, museums or walks around the Onchan area we educate our children with essential life skills in order to become integrated into our Isle of Man society. With the help and security of familiar care givers, our children are encouraged to participate in tasks which will help them with their daily lives.
My Communication
Within the Onchan SPC we focus on total communication. We use various strategies to promote communication such as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), communication books, objects of reference (such as showing a child a nappy before changing them) as well as hand holding and allowing children to lead us to what it is they want/need. Communication forms a part of all areas of the curriculum and is not a stand alone subject. Empowering our learners to use the communication tools that best suit their needs allows them to have a voice and to be heard. Having relationships with support staff and teachers built on trust allows our learners to feel comfortable and confident when communicating their needs/wants, likes/dislikes and frustrations.
