At Clifton, we recognise that some children may benefit from specialist advice, assessment or intervention at different points during their time at school. We work with a range of professionals who bring additional expertise and work alongside school staff and families to help us understand children's individual strengths and needs and identify the support that may help them to thrive.

Specialist involvement will look different for every child. It may include observation, assessment, advice for staff and families, individual or group work, or recommendations about strategies and adaptations that can be used within the classroom.

Art Therapy and Emotional Wellbeing Support

We work in partnership with Chance Arts, a charity that provides therapeutic and emotional wellbeing support for children and families.

An Art Therapist works regularly with pupils who may benefit from additional emotional support. Art therapy provides children with a safe and supportive space to explore and express their thoughts, feelings and experiences through creative activities and conversation. This can be particularly valuable for children who have experienced difficult circumstances, are going through a period of change or vulnerability, or may find it difficult to express how they are feeling through words alone.

Support is responsive to the needs of individual children and may include planned therapeutic work with identified pupils, alongside wider emotional wellbeing support.

Our therapist also provides a lunchtime drop-in, giving pupils an accessible opportunity to talk to a trusted adult if something is worrying them or they feel they need additional support.

Chance Arts also works with parents and families, providing support where difficulties affecting a child may extend beyond the school environment. This helps us take a whole-family approach where appropriate and strengthens the support surrounding the child.

This work forms part of Clifton's wider approach to early help, emotional wellbeing and removing barriers to children's learning and participation.

Educational Psychology

Educational Psychologists (EPs) use their knowledge of child development and psychology to help schools and families understand the different factors that may be affecting a child's learning, wellbeing, relationships or behaviour.

At Clifton, Educational Psychology support may help us to explore areas including:

• learning and memory
• attention and concentration
• emotional wellbeing
• relationships and social development
• behaviour and engagement with learning.

Depending on the needs of the child, an Educational Psychologist may observe them within the classroom, talk with the child and the adults who know them well, meet with parents or carers, and undertake appropriate assessment.

The purpose is not simply to identify a difficulty, but to help us understand a child's needs and identify approaches that can support them effectively in school.

Where individual involvement from an Educational Psychologist is being considered, we will discuss this with parents and carers.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy (OT) supports children to develop the functional skills they need to participate as independently as possible in everyday school life.

For some children, this may involve support with fine or gross motor skills, coordination or the physical skills required to access learning and play. Occupational Therapy may also support children with everyday self-care skills and independence, such as:

• handwriting and using classroom equipment
• participating in physical activities
• changing for PE
• using cutlery and managing at lunchtime
• toileting and other self-care tasks.

Advice from Occupational Therapy can help us identify appropriate strategies, adaptations and interventions so that children can access school life as successfully and independently as possible.

Speech & Language Therapy

Communication is fundamental to children's learning, relationships and wellbeing. We work with Speech and Language Therapists (SaLT) to support children who may need additional help to develop their speech, language and communication skills.

Support may relate to:

• attention and listening
• understanding spoken language
• vocabulary and expressive language
• sentence formation and grammar
• speech sounds and articulation
• non-verbal communication
• social communication.

Speech and Language Therapists may observe children in class, undertake assessments, meet with parents and school staff, recommend strategies and establish individual or small-group interventions.

An important part of this work is also building the expertise of school staff. Therapists may model approaches, provide advice and training, and work alongside staff so that recommended strategies can become part of children's everyday classroom experience.

Working Together

Specialist support is most effective when children, families, school staff and professionals work together. Where external professionals are involved, their recommendations help inform the support and adaptations we provide in school.

We also recognise the importance of children's own views. Where appropriate, children are involved in conversations about what helps them learn, communicate and participate successfully in school.

If you have concerns about your child's learning, development, communication or ability to access aspects of school life, please speak to your child's class teacher or our Inclusion Team. We can discuss your concerns with you and consider what the appropriate next steps may be.