Middle Department

Our Department mission statement is “Practising my skills to help me to learn” as our intention is to enable our pupils to develop their knowledge and practise their skills, preparing them for their journey to the Senior Department and life beyond The Milestone School. We believe that together we will achieve success by “Removing Obstacles and Enabling Access to Learning”.

Pupils in the Middle Department have access to a broad and balanced curriculum, supporting their development, knowledge and skills. Communication, language and interaction is at the heart of our curriculum, as we believe this underpins all areas of our pupils’ learning and development – please see our Curriculum page.

Classes in the Middle Department are primarily based in one room, with highly skilled class Teachers and Learning Partners (LPs). Some pupils in the Middle Department may be taught lessons by different teachers in a variety of rooms and settings; these may include English, Maths, PE or RSE.

Transition

Pupils moving into the Middle Department, from the Foundation Department, begin their transition by spending an afternoon with their new class and teacher. In the Summer Term, they are invited to join the Middle Department assemblies and other activities.
When pupils are ready, they begin to prepare for transition to the Senior Department. In the Summer Term, pupils visit their new Department and will be shown around by the Head of the Department.

At the Milestone School, we understand transition is different for each pupil and we will arrange appropriate activities to help support the needs of individual pupils.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Ensuring learning is as much fun as possible we plan a number of Department events and extra-curricular activities during the year. These may include:

• Topic Launch Days – This is an opportunity for the pupils to take part in a whole Department exciting experience, related to our topic that supports engagement, excitement and enthusiasm.
• Global Awareness Week – This is a chance for pupils to learn about other countries and/or cultures. Pupils may listen to music, cook food or learn some of the language of another country.
• Sports events – Pupils have access to sports events and tournaments off-site. Additional coaching is available at times during the year for some pupils.
• Trips and Residential trips – Classes try to incorporate at least one educational trip per half term. Some classes may attend a residential week in the Summer Term.
• Horse riding – Riding for the disabled (RDA) sessions may be available for some pupils in the Department.
• Swimming – Some pupils access the school Hydrotherapy pool and some pupils attend GL1.
• Experience Harvest, Christmas and Easter – Pupils may have the opportunity to visit a local Church and take part in a variety of Festival themed activities.
• Annual ‘Rotary Kids Day Out’ – We are extremely lucky that the ‘Rotary Club’ have in the past given the majority of the pupils in the Department the opportunity to access a local ‘fun park’ attraction. Our pupils receive unlimited access to the attraction with other Special School pupils. This gives them a stress free, fun experience and the opportunity to socialise with pupils from other schools.

Communication with parents

Parents are encouraged to join/access ClassDojo to keep up to date with events in their child’s class and to enable class staff to communicate important messages. This facility also enables parents/cares to see how well their child is doing in school, through the Dojo reward system.