Communications & Literacy
Communication and Literacy are a core component of our curriculum provision and is embedded in everything we do at Forest Park School. We strive for our pupils to be independent communicators using whatever means is most appropriate for them. Our Communication and Literacy curriculum provides learners with the opportunity to learn and practise communication skills in a range of real life and relevant contexts. Our learners will leave Forest Park with functional communication skills that enable them to express themselves and communicate, on a personal level, with others.
Our core areas that make up our Communication and Literacy curriculum are:
- Attention
- Communication
- Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC)
- Reading
- Writing
- Memory
- Phonics
At Forest Park School we take a Total communication approach which involves using a variety of communication tools to encourage and support communication and interaction with both adults and peers.
This includes but is not limited to:
- Symbols/ Photos/ Objects of Reference
- Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
- Aided language Boards
- Intensive interaction
- Body and facial gesture/ prompts
- Multi-sensory therapies
- Songs, rhyme and music
- Technology
We work closely with multi-agencies to support the development of communication and language, weaving individualised programmes into our curriculum provision through Key Skills development.
Each child receives an individualised Literacy pathway that focuses on their current achievement and their next steps. Each child has their own Key Skills which they learn and practise daily as well as receiving a broad and balanced offering of texts, literacy activities and learning experiences.
At Forest Park we believe that all our pupils have the potential to be phonetic learners and ensure all pupils have the opportunity to develop their sound awareness skills through high quality phase 1 and phase 2 phonics programmes.
We follow the ‘Soundwaves’ programme for our pre-phonic learners, developing their understanding that every unit of sound has a meaning or intention. We teach pupils to focus on, respond to and discriminate sounds around them through fun, engaging learning opportunities such as resonance boards, sound boxes and body percussion.
When pupils are able to attach meaning to sounds, we begin to expose them to letters and their associated sounds. This is delivered through our Systematic Synthetics Phonics (SSP) programme, ‘Read, Write, Ink’. The programme is adapted to each individual pupil and is delivered through small group or individual 1:1 work to develop pupil’s reading and writing skills.
Whilst teaching phonics, we also ensure we provide our pupils with a range of strategies and methods to support their reading and writing development. Some of our learners respond to a whole word reading approach, which is nurtured through personal, topic and high frequency word banks. We encourage increased engagement and a love of books, by ensuring high quality, age respectful texts are integral to our topic planning.
We promote a love for writing within our children through exciting motivating learning activities. We know that writing means more than words on paper and so we offer a wide range of experiences to ensure all pupils are making personal progress on their writing journey. We promote writing through fine motor development, sensory/messy play, touch typing, switch work, mark making, symbols, magnetic letters and matching, to name a few!
