The Loyne Specialist School has been leading specialist provision in Education for many years. Through the use of technology, we strive to enable all of our pupils from the age of 3 to 19 to communicate effectively, make choices and enrich their daily life, both at school, in the community and at home. Each new pupil is assessed for their individual needs and the most suitable ICT equipment is allocated to them. The focus on lifelong learning and independence is embedded throughout the curriculum and we were excited to showcase our school for the NaaceMark assessment. The whole school was eager to give examples of the equipment used by our pupils.

Technology is an intrinsic part of our daily school life. Some of our pupils use the eye gaze system. This is used to communicate choices, opinions, and their personal needs. The eye gaze can also be used to focus on key skills such as eye contact and tracking, as well as allowing pupils to read independently.

Big mac switches are used to communicate and enable our non-verbal pupils to say hello and good morning to their peers, to make choices or requests, or to answer simple yes/no questions. Classes also utilise interactive whiteboards to enhance curriculum topics and to support access to learning and social games.

During cooking lessons pupils can operate equipment such as food mixers and blenders by using a power-link and switch; this can also be used in other lessons with equipment such as fans and hoovers to enable and develop an understanding of cause and effect. Switches can also be linked with a joy lead to a computer and pupils can access a graded approach to switching software which offers opportunities to develop scanning, cause and effect and targeting.

Throughout the recent lockdown due to the pandemic, our pupils were able to access daily lessons via Zoom and through work set by teachers using a home school app. We also operated a loans system, so that families could loan specialist equipment, including technology, for use at home during the lockdown.

Since school was able to reopen, Zoom has also been used for weekly school and departmental assemblies where pupils have celebrated their achievements together and promoted wellbeing throughout school. The introduction of Class Dojo the home/school app created a seamless platform for communication between school and home, giving parents and school staff a safe way to share information and photographs.

So staff are able to capture and assess our pupils’ unique steps of progress, which are not always measured by other assessment tools, ‘Evidence for Learning’ is used throughout school; staff can instantly capture and record any photos or videos as evidence towards pupils’ individual targets which are then tracked and assessed regularly.

We have a multi-purpose sensory room which is used to bring stories or subjects to life. It can provide an engaging sensory experience through lights, temperature, sound effects, vibrating resonance boards and projected images. All staff are trained to use the room and all the equipment in there.

Due to the pandemic our Christmas 2020 performance was not able to go ahead in the usual way. This didn’t stop us, our students in F.E produced a virtual Christmas.
performance which involved each class recording a scene then sending the videos to the F.E department to be edited. Parents and carers were then sent the link via zoom to watch. The pupils did an incredible job and the Christmas production was a resounding success.

As FE pupils have not been able to sell products at the local farmers market they have created their own website to sell their unique business enterprise produce, this includes a click and collect service complete with invoices and feedback requests.
As a school we are extremely proud that we have been able to respond to the challenges of the pandemic in an innovative way that has created exciting learning opportunities for our pupils to excel.

Ciara Davies – ICT Lead, The Loynes Specialist School