Welcome to Sycamore

Teacher - Springboard 1 Meriel Whitty
Photo of Meriel Whitty

Sycamore is part of the Sixth Form Unit. We aim to develop our independence, communication, numeracy and life skills, during our time in Sycamore.

We spend a lot of time in the community, as we work towards transitioning into our adult lives and onto our next steps. We constantly develop our communication skills. We aim to communicate effectively with our peers and other members of our community. We do this through sign, symbols and expressing our preferences, among other methods. As a class, we are undertaking various projects throughout this school year. We will be organising a coffee morning, taking trips to various sporting venues, developing an area of the Patch, creating some delicious dishes and developing other skills through sensory room visits, music and art projects.
As we prepare to move on from Woodfields, Sycamore class students visit the different adult providers that we could choose as our possible new settings.
We always encouraged and supported to reach our potential and be happy and enjoy our time at school.

 

Spring term 1 Timetable

Curriculum Information for parentsTerm: Spring term 1
SubjectProfilesIdeas for home
MathsIn Maths we will be looking at counting, and finding numbers, in the environment and during sports. We will also be handling data by finding out about other people’s likes and dislikes and recording this. We will also continue with our trips into the community and practising our maths skills there. This will include: counting and measurement skills among others. Take trips out and observe shapes out in the community. Take your son/daughter to the shops with you. Ask them to count how many…. Get them to use the money to pay. Look at vegetables and discuss length/size. ‘Which one is bigger/longer?’
EnglishIn English we will be developing our communication using a cross-curricular approach. We will be learning about how we can communicate with our peers and others across our setting- familiar and unfamiliar people. We will be reading a variety of signs and recipes throughout the half term through a range of sessions. Ask your son/daughter to read/recognise signs when out and about- exit/ Tesco etc. Go on trips into the wider community. Encourage and support the students to greet/ communicate with both familiar and less familiar people in an appropriate way.
ASDAN Engaging with the world Around Me: People In this ASDAN unit the students will take part in a range of projects and activities. The students will be focusing on learning about people and places in different areas of our school setting- the office, canteen, the Den etc. We will also be developing our social skills by taking trips into our local community. Parents could support the students at home by encouraging students to discuss their likes/dislikes and find out about others in their community.
ASDAN Multi-Sensory Experiences. They will attend the music room once a week where they will experience the following; variety of music; movement through music; variety of musical instruments and singing. Students will also be attending the sensory room once a week. We will be focusing on routines and communication. Any opportunities to enjoy music this could be through listening, singing, movement, playing a musical instrument etc.
ASDAN Baking Sensory We will be cooking on a regular basis, from a range of recipes. Our focus for the second term is experiencing different cooking techniques. Pupils will be looking at how we use different techniques to cook with e.g. rolling out, rubbing mixing. You could cook with your son/daughter at home. Encourage them to use a variety of cooking techniques.
ASDAN Sport and Leisure Students will be developing their water skills in a weekly visit to Splash swimming pool. You could take your son/daughter swimming to continue to develop their skills at home. Please remember to send in students swimming kit on a Thursday, along with any other necessary equipment.
ASDAN Making Pictures. Students will be making black and white collages in Art. We will be using different prints as well as paint to create a display of a range of the students work. Parents could take students to an art gallery or look at pictures on the internet of examples of collages. Parents could create their own collage at home with the students.
Transition Preparation We continue to visit other settings as the students continue to prepare for transitions into adult settings.