Schools

Person Centred Thinking and Planning is being used in nurseries and schools and throughout the transition process.

We are currently working with 7 schools in 6 local authorities across England in partnership with VPST and IBK Initiatives to develop 'best practice'. We are also planning to involve more schools in the programme in the very near future.

Some of the areas that schools are exploring and developing are:

Person Centred Reviews with all children and young people
Person Centred thinking with all children and young people
1 page profiles for all children and young people throughout the school
Children and families making a contribution to the School Development Plan e.g. through whole school consultations and information gathered from young people through Person Centred Thinking Skills and Person Centred Reviews
Children and families influencing school curriculum through whole school consultations and information gathered from young people through Person Centred Thinking Skills and Person Centred Reviews.
Person Centred Planning being integral to school/transition policy and being the basis for individual budgets.

Books

Developing Person Centred Approaches in Schools

This resource has come about in response to the learning of schools that have been involved in the person centred transition review programme. As these schools extend the delivery of person centred reviews, they find they are making changes to all aspects of school life. For example, alterations to lesson plans allow for preparation for reviews to take place and cross curricular teaching methods enable a creative approach.
The resource outlines many examples of such changes. In addition to the specifics of reviews, enabling all students participate in their review has highlighted the necessity of taking an individual approach to teaching and learning. We address some of the challenging questions practitioners are asking and bring together some of the innovative practice we have seen over the past few years. We aim to support those people facilitating change in mainstream and special schools. The examples we show have been developed as the result of the learning needs of particular children. They will work for other children, but they will not be appropriate for all children. We invite you to think about how you could make appropriate resources to meet the needs of individuals and groups you work with.

This book is availiable from HSAPress.

Papers and Articles

One Page Profiles in Schools: a guide by Helen Sanderson, Tabitha Smith and Liz Wilson.

This guide is to help you to develop one page profiles in school. We start with the why, what, how and who of one page profiles. We then give information about the headings and ways to get started.
To read this new resource see the downloads box on the left.

One Page Profiles with Children and Young People by Lorraine Erwin and Helen Sanderson.

This article demonstrates the benefits of using one-page profiles through a number of stories showing how this tool can support person-centred approaches with individual children, curriculum development, school development plans and staff management.

To read this article see the downloads box on the left.

Person Centred Teams: An example from Abbey Hill School, Stoke-on-Trent by Lorraine Erwin and Helen Sanderson.

This paper shares how Abbey Hill School set about creating a person-centred team, using a range of person centred thinking tools to forge a strong team with a shared sense of purpose and a 'living' action plan. The steps outlined could be adopted by any school wanting to make a reality of person-centred approaches in school.
To view this paper see the downloads box on the left.

Working Together for Change in Schools by Lorraine Erwin and Helen Sanderson.

This article shows how two special schools - Ellen Tinkham School in Exeter and Abbey Hill School in Stoke-on-Trent - have successfully implemented a stepby- step approach to adopting this process, resulting in school services truly guided by the voices of children, young people and their families.

To read this article see the downloads box on the left.

Helen Sanderson and Antonia Kinman (HSA Foundation) are writing a regular column for the SEN Magazine about using person centred thinking at home and school.

Here are the extracts from the SEN Magazine articles. For more information about the SEN Magazine, click on the logo above to be directed to their website.

Issue 44 - Ideas for using Person Centred Thinking at home and at school.
To launch a new column in the SEN Magazine, Helen Sanderson and Antonia Kinman look at some practical ways to use Person Centred Thinking at home and school.

Recent issues of SEN magazine have featured articles about person centred reviews and one page profiles. Now, we want to take a look at how person centred thinking tools can be used by families and schools to make a difference for children and young people with SEN. This column includes chapters on:

Like and Admire sessions
Great things about me stickers
Appreciation Badges
Appreciation Cushions
Like and Admire photo books