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

by Pippa Murray and Helen Sanderson

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.

 

Available to purchase from the HSA Press website or by calling 0161 442 8271.

Click here to preview this book.

 

 

Websites

Personalising Education. This website aims to be the international hub of what is being learned about personalising education through person-centred practices.Here you will find information and learning from the schools and colleges that are pioneering person-centred practices to personalise education. The website is a rich resource with case studies, papers, blogs from schools and colleges, short films and social media.

 

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.

 

Introducing Person Centred Thinking in a Primary School by Tabitha Smith and Helen Sanderson.
This paper shows how one Primary School introduced person centred thinking with pupils and staff. It explains the process for introducing person centred thinking, and what went well, and what was learned along the way. We hope that this is of interest to teachers and wider school staff both in Mainstream Primary Schools, as well as Special Schools. Local Authorities who are interested in person centred approaches may also find this useful. We have provided detail and examples, for schools that may be interested in taking a similar approach.

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

 

Personalising Education: Person-Centred approaches in schools. Learning from Norris Bank Primary school by Helen Sanderson, Tabitha Smith and Jaimee Lewis.

Norris Bank Primary School in Stockport has developed a way of putting the learner in the centre of the education process. This personalises the curriculum to the students and supports their welfare. This paper will cover how Norris Bank has moved on from its early beginnings - which was set out in our first paper 'Introducing Person-Centred Thinking in a Primary School'- through to their recent improvement in their Ofsted results from 'good' to 'outstanding'.

To read this paper 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

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

Issue 45 - Hopes and Dreams at home, at school and beyond.
The concepts of growing up and growing older can be hard to grasp for many children, and for children with a learning disability they can be especially difficult. A personal scrapbook is a great way of working with your child to map their history in a way that's meaningful to them, whilst helping them to think about who they are and what they want in life. This column includes chapters on:

• Getting a life
• "All about me" movies
• Student stars
• Dream lanterns

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

Issue 46 - Celebrating the past, both at home and at school.
Helen Sanderson and Antonia Kinman look at recording and sharing hopes and dreams at home, at school and beyond... This column includes chapters on:

• Special Books
• Annuals
• Celebrating family histories
• Galleries
• Timelines
• Forest of Family Trees
• Miniature life histories
• Celebrating community histories
• Quilting
• Mosaics

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

 

Issue 47 - How to develop relationships at school, in the community and within the family.
In this issue, we will look at ways to build relationships and celebrate people who mean the most to us. This column includes chapters on:

• Relationship Circles
• A table mat with a difference
• Clocks
• Friendship Profiles
• Circles of Support
• Jennie's Story

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

 

Issue 48 - How person centred approaches can help ease the strain of transition.
Starting at a new school can be a time of great anxiety and confusion for young people and their families, as they move on from familiar people and places into the unknown. It is a crucial time for thinking carefully about your life and what you want now and in the future. All too often, though, planning can go on around young people without anyone truly listening to what is important to them. So here are a few simple ways to get young people involved in their education and find out how they feel about things. This column includes chapters on:

• One page profiles
• All about me posters
• Communication charts
• Person centred reviews

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

 

Issue 49 - How to celebrate the shared qualities that make us who we are.
All too often, people with learning disabilities find themselves defined more by their medical labels than by what it is that makes them who they are as a person, or how they are valued by their community. This issue, we are going to explore ways of celebrating group and individual identities at home and at school. This column includes chapters on:

• Class values/motto
• Family identities
• A sense of belonging
• Celebrating achievements

To view this column see the downloads box on the left.

 

Blogs

We have a regular blogs page from Norris Bank Primary School and The Oxley Park Aceademy. Please click on their names to go directly to their blogs.

 

Examples and Stories

An example, by Kate, of using what people like about me/what is important to me.

 

A Home School Agreement that mentions using one page profiles as a way to personalise learning (on page 4).

Read about how we are thinking about One Page Plans in School - Laura's One Page Profile for School.
A dream is for all children to have their own person centred plans, in all mainstream and special schools. Closer to reality, teachers would not be able to read, use and add to very detailed plans on all children in their class.

Person Centred Year9 (14 plus) Reviews.

Oscar's One Page Plan.

Adam's One Page Plan.

Julie's 9pm-3:15pm Plan.

Zara's Review.

Jay's Review.

Luke's Review.

William's Review.

Matthew's Review.

Sana's Review.

Danny's Review.

Paul's Review.

Jennie's Year10 Person Centred Transition Review.

Cameron's One Page Plan.

Cameron's star fish Story.

James' One Page Profile is the first example from Oxley Park Primary School where they are developing one page profiles for all pupils.

Ciaran's Review. Ciaran and Tricia Nicoll describe how he used his year 10 review to think about and plan for his work experience and paid work.