During the year we offer pupils the opportunity to take part in visits within their local community. These outings encourage pupils to practice skills in a real context within varied environments. All pupils have their own individual risk assessment with regard to visits and any venues are risk assessed by staff. If using the school minibus or other transport the online EVOLVE forms are also completed. For these excursions close adult support will be necessary to ensure children’s supervision and safety. Some of these community visits are made possible through voluntary contributions from families. Visits will take place at various points during the school week and may include:
Visits link to the individual child’s curriculum and aim to develop personal and social skills in particular. Children will be encouraged to actively participate in safety routines during each trip e.g. standing at the kerb and looking left and right for traffic before crossing, sitting appropriately on the bus, closing the gate at the park. For some pupils preferred destinations can easily become an obsession and we feel it is important for children to be encouraged to be flexible in their movements whilst out in the community. To this end the timing and duration of activities will vary on a weekly basis, routes may also change. Although it will be necessary to gradually build up the degree of change pupils have to cope with during each visit we feel it is important that pupils learn to accommodate structured change during school visits. It is also hoped that eventually pupils will be able to transfer this flexibility to situations outside school, such as outings with family members or ‘Home from Home’ carers.
The pupils at Delamere have regular access to the local scout facility which they have been using as part of their forest school sessions. Some of the sessions this year have focused on PSHE and working together to set up camp and have picnics, including toasting marshmallows on a camp fire.
Science in the outdoors! We found ice after the recent freeze and we watched what happened when we held it in our warm hands and looked through it. All the hard work was rewarded with a hot chocolate in the woods!
The children have had a great time visiting Simply Cycling at Wythenshawe park. Children from every class across school have had the opportunity to attend the cycle track and try out lots of different adapted bicycles. This has helped to boost children physical and gross motor skills, inclusion within the wider community and also a great opportunity for communication and building relationships.
Great fun was had by children and staff!!
The children in woodpecker class have been making visits to local shops, this is a great opportunity to practice our communication skills and also practice our life skills and learn about money.
The children in Squirrel class enjoyed a fascinating visit to Manchester Science and Industry Museum where they got to watch interesting demonstrations and really enjoyed exploring the exhibits.
