Benton Dene Schools

Benton Dene Schools

Preparation for Adulthood                                

What is it?                       

Preparation for adulthood (PFA) is a term used to support the transition from childhood to adulthood for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Preparing the transition to adulthood is an ongoing process from early years.

There are four areas of preparation for adulthood; employment, independent living, friends, community and relationships, and good health. All four of these areas are highly important and the staff team at Benton Dene work hard to support pupils and provide opportunities for pupils to develop their skills in these areas through the learning within our curriculum, daily activities, educational visits and event weeks such as our World of Work week.

The table below outlines some of the ways in which PFA is evident throughout Benton Dene School. Whilst some of the opportunities listed follow a specific pathway according to year group (eg- The Robinwood residential for Blue zone), most are available to all pupils according to need providing a bespoke approach to PFA for all pupils at Benton Dene School.

Employment

  • Following objects of reference, visual cues and learning daily routines.
  • Planning skills – e.g. collecting own resources.
  • Following timetable.
  • Following adult direction.
  • Ability to attend.
  • Early literacy and numeracy skills.
  • PECS - Communication skills through the different word levels.
  • Rules and boundaries.
  • Following person centered interest.
  • Problem solving.
  • Role play opportunities.
  • Wow week
  • Now/next board (visual timetable) 
  • Transitions 
  • Adaptability – managing choice and  change 
  • Problem solving 
  • Visitors 
  • Enterprise
  • Carrying out jobs around school (eg taking a message to the office) 

 

 

 

Independent living

  • PECS
  • AAC
  • Makaton
  • Communication and social interaction games/ interventions/ opportunities
  • Personal hygiene
  • Toilet training
  • Handwashing
  • Tooth brushing
  • Dressing and undressing.
  • Weather appropriate clothing.
  • Independent feeding skills.
  • Encourage risk taking or new experiences.
  • Ability to separate from caregiver.
  • Build positive relationships with adults.
  • Resilience.
  • new experiences
  • Keeping safe (stranger danger, road safety)
  • Shopping skills
  • Library
  • Swimming, sports events
  • Evisits
  • Make choices 
  • Finding own coat 
  • Accepting help  

Friends, community & relationships

  • Helping each other
  • Communication and social interaction games/ interventions/ opportunities
  • Encourage communication ‘hello’
  • Extra curricular clubs
  • Celebrate each other achievement assembly
  • Look after our environment
  • Local walks and educational visits
  • Educational visits
  • Visit shops, libraries, cafes in BDS locality
  • Community involvement eg - donations  to local charities, visiting retirement homes
  • Cultural and religious celebrations marked and celebrated throughout the year.
  • Growing up sessions
  • Promote positive relationships with adults and peers
  • Turn taking games
  • Playing alongside each other 
  • Sharing toys 
  • Building resilience to deal with varied  situations
  • Parent attended events within school (sports day, enterprise, performances)
  • Internet safety

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good health

  • Promote healthy eating habits (science, pshe)
  • Provide opportunities to try and explore different foods (also through sensory play- experiencing smells and textures)
  • Breakfast club
  • PE and swimming
  • Extra curricular clubs
  • Daily mile
  • Trim trail
  • Opportunities to attend local events eg- golf festival, dance festival
  • Personal hygiene promoted
  • Toothbrushes and tooth paste given to children
  • PSHE, Life skills and Science curriculum
  • Growing up sessions
  • Multi Agency approaches (OT, MH team, SALT, nurses)
  • Support plans
  • Zones of regulation
  • Opportunities to explore activities and find things that make them ‘happy’ 
  • THRIVE
  • Outdoor play 
  • Sensory circuits
  • Rebound
  • Communicating pain/illness
  • Mindfulness 
  • Awareness of medical professionals eg doctor, dentist 
  • Promoting movement daily combined with  healthy lifestyles to support positive  physical and mental health 
  • Importance of limiting screen time 
  • Internet safety

The Climate Strategy

 

Blue 5 and 6 took part in the Climate Strategy Strand 2 at The Common Room in Newcastle. As a team, the children presented their ideas on how to tackle climate change to a group of judges who loved their idea of a mechanical boat, powered by solar panels that would collect plastic from the ocean. Each child played a crucial part in coming together to form a presentation to deliver to the judges. From diagrams, research, product designers to Lego building engineers, our teams came through. As a result of their amazing efforts, Benton Dene were the worthy Winners for their outstanding effort and were awarded the winning entry of North Tyneside Learning Trust's Climate Strategy. 

In the autumn term all classes worked towards producing products to sell at Benton Dene’s Christmas fayre. The pupils looked at a range of ideas for stalls at fayres and worked as class teams to decide what product or service they wanted to produce.

The pupils then explored how to advertise the fayre in different ways. Some of Blue zone created a video campaign that was then uploaded to our school website and twitter pages. Green zone created and distributed posters to raise local awareness of our Christmas fayre.

Blue 6 painted these fabulous paintings in the underpass at Cullercoats as part of an Enterprise project. They are there for everyone to see and we have had some lovely feedback from those who have seen them.

We made 'fidget cushions' for a care home in Killingworth.

Blue 6 created a video as part of their Enterprise project.

Take a look at Green 5's Enterprise project. They made their own Christmas candy canes. Pupils worked together to research plan and design how they wanted their enterprise project to look.