Rowanfield Handbook

Aims, School Rules and Values at Rowanfield

Information about Rowanfield

Organisation

Location of Service

Staffing

Support for Learning

Support for Pupils

Inclusion Team

Attendance/Absences/Accidents and Sickness

School Meals/Milk/Snack Attack

Aims, School Rules and Values at Rowanfield

At Rowanfield we are helping children to develop into:
Successful Learners
Confident Individuals
Responsible Citizens
Effective Contributors

Through:

-raising achievement and attainment of all learners by taking account all aspects of his/her development in order to provide a curriculum that meets individual needs;
-supporting a framework for learning by providing a stimulating learning environment that nurtures and is non-judgemental; and works co-operatively with all to develop skills, knowledge and self-confidence;
-supporting inclusion and equality by providing supportive links with parents, other schools and the wider community through our multi-agency working;
-developing values and citizenship by playing an active part in the school and wider community thus learning to take responsibility, show respect and develop appropriate communication skills; and
-helping others to develop learning for life skills by promoting opportunities to develop self confidence and skills for learning through a wide and varied curricular approach and delivery

At Rowanfield, we are:

BEing KIND by showing
RESPECT and TRUST

BEing HELPFUL by showing
HONESTY

BEing SAFE by showing
JUSTICE AND COMPASSION

WORKing HARD by showing
LEARNING

The service understands that these expectations and rules could differ from those held at home. At the beginning of each session (or at starting at Rowanfield), we ask children and parents to agree and sign a contract that these rules will be accepted and followed in the service. Back to top

Information about Rowanfield

Rowanfield opened in November 2002 as a multi-agency service for children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The service consists of two provisions - an intense provision and an inclusion provision.

Within the intense provision there are 60fte and within the inclusion provision there are 24fte. The Service will assess (in conjunction with parents) what type of provision is needed for each child

Admission to Rowanfield or Rowanfield Inclusion is through the Professional Assessment Group. Educational Psychologists are responsible for referrals

Rowanfield provides behavioural support for children in order to help them moderate their behaviour and develop the necessary social skills to enable them to cope more easily in their environment.

Rowanfield maintains a consistent positive approach with an emphasis on individual and group responsibilities. Children are encouraged to make positive choices and decisions in regards to their own behaviour. Back to top

Organisation

The School Hours

Monday to Thursday:
School starts: 9:15
Morning Session 9:15-10:45
Morning Social Time 10:45-11:00
Mid Day Session 11:00-12:30
Lunch and Social Time 12:30-1:15
Afternoon Sessions 1:15-2:45
Dismissal: 2:45

Friday:
School starts: 9:15
Morning Session 9:15-10:30
Morning Social Time 10:30-10:45
Mid Day Session 10:45-11:50
Lunch and Social Time 11:50-12:15
Dismissal: 12:15 Back to top

Location of Service

Rowanfield is located in the North section of the City. The school is a citywide provision and will be involved with all city primary schools as/when necessary.

Rowanfield is part of the Broughton Cluster of schools. Back to top

Staffing

The school has a multi-agency team working with children. The staffing reflects the degree of individual care and attention that children require to meet their needs.

The Management Team:
The management team consists of
Head of Service,
Depute Head of Service ,
Business Manager,
Principal Teacher of Effective Learning and Teaching
Principal Teacher of Inclusion
Principal of Child and Family Care (Senior Social Worker)

Teaching Teams:
There are teaching teams work directly with children. They consist of teachers, nursery nurses and learning assistants. There are 4 teams within the service and children are put into teams depending on their needs.

There are also specialist teachers in Art and PE, and a learning assistant who supports class teachers in providing Music.

Inclusion Team:
The Inclusion team provides appropriate support to enable children to access mainstream primary schools. Children at Rowanfield are involved in this process to either 1) go back to full time education in their local mainstream primary school or 2) be given opportunities to participate in certain learning activities in their local mainstream primary school. The decision for inclusion is made collaboratively with the children, parents and staff. This team also works with children in mainstream primary schools to enable them to keep their placement within their local schools. This team consists of teachers and support staff.

Effective Learning and Teaching Team:
The Effective Learning and Teaching Team works with children who may require a more individualised or small group setting to complete learning activities. The team support children both academically and behaviourally. Staffing consists of a part time Support for Learning Teacher and 3 Behavioural Assistants.


The Child and Family Care Team:
The Child and Family Care Team consists of a community worker and home/school link worker. They are involved in supporting parents in regards to their children. The team works with parents, Rowanfield staff and other professionals to promote individual children?s development and learning.

Their work is child centred and involves:
Family Work
One to one work with children
Group work in school
Counseling/advice to parents
Transition across change
Collaborative work with other agencies

The Administration Team:
The Administration team is responsible for overseeing all the records for children, as well as dealing with finance, personal and facility management issues.

Multi-Agency Teams:
It is the nature of the work at Rowanfield that quite a few agencies may be involved with children and/or their families. The amount of contact between agencies and the service will vary according to circumstances.

Therapy Provision
Occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy are well established as key partners with Rowanfield. In line with best practice our therapy services have become an integral part of our curriculum, development planning and professional development programmes.

Our therapy team belong to one of the largest services in Scotland with a national reputation for excellence. Our therapy services are provided from and based in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. This allows close working with the paediatric consultants and other health professionals and provides a seamless link between hospital diagnostic services and Rowanfield. The service is an accredited centre for professional supervision and training within national guidelines.

The therapy team is also involved in relevant research and has wide support from a large paediatric team where joint working and sharing of information supports best practice at Rowanfield. When necessary the school therapists can call on this extended team for specialist advice and support.

Children's programmes are based on individual assessment results and are devised and planned by the therapists. The delivery of these programmes will often be shared with an experienced class team, including learning assistants and teachers, who work daily with individual children. Rowanfield staff are all familiar with the therapy strategies and programmes, which can be delivered in the classrooms or on an individual basis. They have access to ongoing training and support from the therapy team. This allows maximum input to the children by integrating therapy targets into the school day.

Modern therapy provision is evolving to increase a child's access to the curriculum and support an individual's fullest involvement in the life of the school. In conjunction with this therapy provides a valuable tool, which can increase the teacher's access to the child. Therapists are able to present a wide variety of strategies to the children, their families and teachers. In order to provide the children with access to all aspects of therapy provision, the service includes home liaison to support families directly, when appropriate.

A child may receive group, individual therapy and/or indirect therapy where therapists often work in a consultative or in an advisory role e.g.: the provision of therapy management programmes, visual timetables and training in signing for teachers. Therapists also provide access to technology if necessary. The delivery of an individual therapy programme is based on a needs assessment and can be presented in many ways. This input is flexible and will reflect the evidence base about how best to meet children's needs most effectively.

School Health Service
The school Health Service is based at 10 Chalmers Crescent, Edinburgh EH9 1TS. Teams of specialist Health Service and Education Department staff work together to provide a service throughout your child's years at primary and secondary school. The School Health Service is part of the Community Child Heath Service and has direct links with those who carry out health checks on children before they start school.

Many different services are provided. The staff involved make every effort to work closely with parents and with others who are caring for your child, both at school and in other branches of the Health Service. Some of the services (i.e. testing for vision, hearing or speech) are provided to all children on a routine basis to discover which children may need further tests or treatment. Parents are not necessarily notified at the time of these screening tests and any parent who does not want their child to be included should notify the Head/Depute Head of Service at the beginning of the session. Naturally if treatment is thought to be required, parents will be informed and consent requested. The School Health Team takes the issue of maintaining confidentiality seriously at all times.

Some of the staff concerned and the parts they play are as follows:

The school doctor will come into school on a regular basis. He will also attend any meeting as necessary. His remit is to provide guidance and advice and to liaise with other agencies when necessary. She does not generally provide treatment or prescribe but will advise parents to contact their own GP. With your consent, the school doctor also carries out immunizations to protect against various diseases. The school doctor is trained in Community paediatrics and is part of a team of doctors, including Consultant Community Paediatrician for the area. The school doctor may ask your consent to examine your child if his/her medical records are incomplete or if the doctor particularly wishes to check on a child's progress. Parents will be invited to be present at any medical examination and kept informed if the school doctor wishes to see your child again, or thinks that your child should be seen by the family doctor or a specialist in paediatrics. Parents can, if you wish, arrange for your own GP to undertake the examinations instead of the school doctor.

If you have concerns about your child or are aware of any medical problems, let the school know so that they can be seen when the doctor visits.

The School Nurse comes to school on a weekly basis. She is involved with health promotion and education, prevention of ill health, immunization, health surveillance and screening. She also reviews the notes of all children in Primary 1, 4, 7 and Senior 3, as well as those of all new entrants.

The Health Assistant carries out regular checks on groups of children, gives advice on health and hygiene, tests eyesight and works with the school doctor and nurse. The Health Assistant also acts as an important link between home and school.

An information booklet about the School Health Service is issues to all Primary 1 children and any new children coming from outwith the Lothian area.

Parents are asked to complete a health questionnaire about their child in Primary 1, 7 and Senior 3 and asked if they would like their child to have a medical consultation with the school doctor.

Child and Family Mental Health Service
The Community Mental Health Workers are part of the Family and Child Mental Services at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. They come into school on a weekly basis to both meet with staff and work with children. The school will ask parents to sign a consent form before any interactions with children occur. The main department is at 3 Rillbank Terrace, Edinburgh.

School Dentist
The dentist is based at the dental care center at Duncan Street. The School Dentist service sends a mobile unit to the service each session to examine the teeth of all the children and offer treatment where necessary.

If a child complains of problems with their teeth, let the school know and they will contact the dental service.

Educational Psychological Service
Educational Psychologists work with Rowanfield staff. Their office is located at McDonald Road. Parents can contact the service to find out their child's Educational Psychologist.

Other Educational Psychologists will be involved with your child before admission to Rowanfield, but will hand over to a Rowanfield Educational Psychologist at admissions. All referrals to Rowanfield are dealt with by Psychological services, as are all Primary 7 children in preparation for secondary school.

Social Work Department
Many children/families have support from individual social workers. A close co-operative liaison is established whenever possible, usually through the service's Child and Family Care Team.

Other Agencies
On an individual basis other agencies may be involved with children. Back to top

Support for Learning

Small teams and a high staff to child ration (1 teacher to 6 children) ensure that individual help and encouragement, thus lessening the frustration children have found in larger classes.

In order to give maximum flexibility, Rowanfield places children in teams where their needs will be best met.

Curriculum
Rowanfield follows the 5-14 curriculum. The service tries to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all children, which includes Personal and Social Development, English Language, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Expressive Arts, Health Education and Religious and Moral Education.

Rowanfield staff write forward plans for all the areas of the 5-14 curriculum, which include individualized targets (within an Individual Education Programme) for children in English Language, Mathematics and Personal and Social Development. Targets include learning outcomes and success criteria, as well as next steps. These are written in consultation with the children and shared with parents.

Monitoring and Evaluating of Children's Progress
The service uses formative assessment to monitor and evaluate children's progress in all areas of the 5-14 curriculum. Children are able to take the 5-14 National Tests when ready.

Homework
The policy of the school is to provide homework when parents, the child and the class teacher are willing and are in agreement on the form, which it will take. Homework should be a positive and rewarding experience for both children and parents. It is important that parents support their child in regards to homework by showing an appropriate interest and ensuring that homework is done efficiently, thoroughly and regularly. If homework is causing difficulties at home, this should be brought to the attention of the school immediately.

The Support for Learning teacher will have a primary focus on developing anger management skills, social skills and literacy/numeracy skills through building friendships, talents and interests, social skills and positive values. Children will also receive learning support within their teams with class teachers.

Educational Outings
Classes will go on a variety of educational outings throughout the school session. Every parent is required to complete an EE2 consent form before their child will be allowed out of the school. These forms are sent home for both groups of activities and one off activities. Teachers will also send home a note to parents the day before any child will be out of school.

Transportation for outings is provided in the form of a minibus from the City of Edinburgh Council. Back to top

Support for Pupils

Rowanfield has a Behaviour Support Base and Quiet Room. Both of these are line managed by the Principal Teacher of Effective Learning and Teaching. Working within the Support Base and Quiet Room are 3 Behaviour Assistants.

Children are expected to be in class participating in learning activities. Although there are times when children are unable to be in class and require some time out.

The Support Base and Quiet Room are designed to assist children that are having difficulties taking time out within the class or team area. All attempts are made to help children work through their difficulties in a non-threatening and supportive environment. Every effort is made to work with children and help them to return to their class as soon as possible. Back to top

Inclusion Team

The Inclusion Team works with children at Rowanfield who are deemed ready to return to their local mainstream primary school. Rowanfield endeavors to provide appropriate mainstream education for all children that require it. This will be decided in discussions with parents. Individual programmes will be developed for any child ready to move to some type of mainstream education via the Inclusion provision of the service.

This team also works with children in mainstream primary schools.

This team is line managed by the Principal Teacher of Inclusion. Back to top

Attendance/Absences/Accidents and Sickness

Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child attends school regularly and that he/she is ready at the time appointed by the transport. The school should be notified by telephone or message via the transport if a child is going to be absent. Parents are requested not to take their children on holiday during the school terms. Regular attendance is essential to allow achievement of the school's educational aims.

If a child is unwell or absent from school for any other reason, it is essential that the parents telephones the school or sends a note with the child when the child returns to school. It is the parent's responsibility to notify the transport company when their child will not be coming to school, as well as when their child is ready to come back to school. The telephone numbers of the transport companies can be obtained from the service's administration office.

In cases of unsatisfactory attendance, the Child and Family Support Team will visit the home and discuss the problem with the parents. If such unsatisfactory attendance persists, the service may need to refer the case to the local Area Attendance Advisory Group. This group has been formed to make recommendations to the Director of Education on the statutory responsibility of the Authority with regards to defaulting parents. Back to top

School Meals/Milk/Snack Attack

School lunches are provided in the form of two course set meal, which are eaten in three dining areas with full staff supervision. The school will notify parents (that require it) of the cost of meals and milk. It is most helpful if parents send the amount of money required for meals and milk in an envelope marked with the child's name. Parents can pay either weekly or for longer periods. Contact the school administration to make these arrangements. Cheques should be made to Scolarest. Any special diet requirements should be sent to the school in writing.

If parents request, their child may also have packed lunches and will have their lunch in the dining areas with other children.

Under the Education Committee's policy, children in attendance at schools, under the management of the Authority are entitled to free school meals and milk if their parents are in receipt of Income Support. No other children are eligible for free meals. Further information and an application form can be obtained from the school or from Pupil Support Services, Free Meals and Clothing Grants Section, Floor 4, Wellington Court, 10 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG

Children are also provided with fruit every week via the Edinburgh Food Initiative (Snack Attack). The cost of each piece of fruit is 10p per piece. Parents will be sent out a letter requesting payment for this throughout the school session. As before, if families are entitled to free school meals, they will not need to pay for the fruit.

Parents are asked to send in a healthy snack on a daily basis. The school requests that no drinks be sent into school. The children will be provided with water when needed. Back to top