Marjorie McClure Specialist School Assessment Service

Hawkwood Lane
Chislehurst
BR7 5PS
Tel: 020 8467 0174
Fax: 020 8467 3275
Contact: Laura Armitage
Email: [email protected]

Service

Area covered
London borough of Bromley

Population served
Age 3-19

Scale
A new service that builds upon the experience our school has had of providing outreach for all schools and families in Bromley. This new service is to receive funding from both the LEA and the PCT as a joint, multi-disciplinary service.

The initial pilot phase has identified 10 pupils in mainstream and special settings with unmet needs. Some of these pupils have AAC needs and some have written communication/curriculum access needs. These first 10 pupils will be seen under the pilot phase of the project. We are working with a team from the ACE Centre, who are funded through a DCSF project, to assist Bromley in establishing a local service. The service will hopefully expand after the pilot phase.

Services provided
– Assessment
– Ongoing support
– Training to schools and families
– Loan of equipment from the loan bank that we are just setting up
– Research: we are currently working on developing strategies for using eye-gaze technology with different client groups

Staffing
– Specialist Teacher: 1 day per week
– Speech and Language Therapist: 1 day per week
– Occupational Therapist: 1 day per week
– Admin assistant: 1 day per week
– ICT technician: 8-10 days a year equivalent
– Medical Engineer as required

Funded by
– Education
– NHS
– Loan bank has funding from the local authority

Permanent or project
Expected to be a permanent service. We are receiving start-up funding; a pilot phase will be introduced.

Year set up
2010 (but outreach from the school has operated since 2005)

Referral process
Referrals come from the local authority special needs department, local schools and some directly from families.

The school has a long history of providing out reach and training from its own resources. This service however was not jointly funded with the PCT and the new service will be. The team will include a specialist teacher, a Speech and Language therapist and an Occupational therapist, ICT technician and medical engineer and input from the Educational Psychology team when required.