Voice and Choice
Young people have a right for their voice to be heard and every opportunity is taken to involve the young people in their own everyday decisions.
It is vital that we listen to our young people and give them an opportunity to express how they are feeling and enable them to be able to ask for help and support when needed.
These opportunities are integrated into a young person’s day and individual strategies and tools are developed to enable all young people to be able to leave Hill House School with the skills needed to be able to communicate their feelings and preferences effectively.
How we listen to our Young People
All of our young people can have access to SMARTBOX AAC devices to help them to communicate and have mire independence.
Positive Communication Environment
The introduction of SMARTBOX to Hill House has opened up another world of communication for our students – used to signing and using PECS and a range of visual aids, the option to individualise such a modern and slick communication tool has been really well received by students and staff.
We have some lovely examples of how this has amplified a child’s voice – from choosing to go swimming to communicating with a hospital team whilst undergoing treatment.
Again, we are all learning and discovering more about Talk Pad and just how it opens up our communication options in so many different ways – a really exciting addition to our positive communication environment at Hill House.
Zones of Regulation & Reflection Times
For young people at Hill House School to learn about and understand their emotions in a way that is accessible to them.
The therapy and behaviour support teams worked together to develop debrief support for the young people.
Aim of the project: For the young people at Hill House School to learn about and understand their emotions in a way that is accessible to them, in order for them to develop some self-regulation skills for the future. The young people are learning how to identify which zone they are in, adding strategies to their ‘Zones of Regulation Toolbox’.
There are four types of debriefs that the young people can access:
Calming choices – Offering support directly after the incident to regulate back to the green zone
Reflective tToolbox – A learning opportunity to reflect on the incident
Social Thinking Reflection – Supports the young person to develop social skills to help them to problem solve
Check in – Checking on the emotional wellbeing after young people have been exploring each other’s social boundaries
Work on Consent
This includes:
Helping young people and encouraging the, to practice their interactions and saying ‘yes’ or ‘No’ to them.
Practice Section (the young people are encouraged to practice their interactions and saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to them.
'Interacting with my friends' activity (the young people will take turns approaching the board or using their Talk Pad to communicate).
Response Section (the chosen young person can then give or decline consent to the proposed interaction).
Review Contributions
All young people are invited to contribute to their review and where possible, the young person can come along to their meeting and share their views.
Home Chats
Young people are invited to take part in 'home chats' and to make a whole range of choices about what they would like to cook, where they would like to go and what they would like to do.
Contact with Home
With online calls becoming a way of life, this gives a great opportunity for families and young people to see each other and spend some time together.
Regular contact is promoted for each young person and their family in a way that works best.
We are still improving this as we learn more – it is all about quality rather than quantity and finding what suits each family relationship. It is a great way of ensuring that families can feel involved in the day-to-day life at Hill House with their young person.
We are just about to look at how we can further improve online contact and really create an individual plan for each family.
Each week young people compose a letter home using the Colourful Semantics approach and their Talk Pad. This is an opportunity to share how they might be feeling and to celebrate achievements.
'Let’s Eat' Café
The whole impetus for creating the café was about offering choice – and the importance of this for our young people who often have had so many decisions made on their behalf.
Our hope was to give a 'Pret a Manger' feel – with a range of fresh and tasty options for students to choose from each day, their choice, their voice.
In addition to this choice, to also eat in the café, outside or to take their lunch back to their home. Starting with a small café area, we developed a much larger space and have also combined this with great work experience opportunities.
Hillfresh also came from the same place – the option of choosing a meal to cook in the home with the right ingredients and easy to follow visual recipe – something we all take for granted in our own homes!
Individual Choices
Making decisions is an important life skill and one that we really aim to promote in our students.
This might be about clothes, activities or something as important as decoration in the home or choosing whether they would like to move into a new bedroom or home?
Understanding capacity around choices is vital and we will always assume capacity for day-to-day decisions, seeking assessment of capacity for those bigger life decisions.
We work with young people before they move to HHS to enable them to start to make choices and preferences about what they would like to do and where they would like to spend time.
Individualised Sixth Form Pathways – Programmes of Study
Our 6th Form Curriculum encourages our students to follow Pathways which are designed to help them build a more independent lifestyle and develop skills for life and work. This curriculum focusses on developing communication skills, emotional regulation and is about building their confidence and preparing them for adulthood. We will encourage the students to make more informed choices in line with their needs and aptitudes, speaking up for themselves and discovering a sense of control over their lives.
Hill House School PLC
The Hill House Professional Learning Community provide an external perspective on our school in a way that supports and challenges us
Our PLC includes key members of our local community including a retired head teacher, a retired social care inspector, a GP and a professor from Southampton university
The purpose of the PLC is;
• To engage in structured professional discussions
• To work collaboratively with our local community to improve the school
• To hold frank discussions / assessments of performance and outcomes
• To have a balance of high support and high challenge
• To form part of the school improvement process
• To bring an external perspective to the school
• To encourage innovation
• To support us to set stretching targets
The PLC visit the school on a regular basis and speak to young people and staff
Senior Practitioners on Site
Both our Clinical Psychologist and Consultant Clinical Psychiatrist regularly spend time with the young people. This enables them to check to see that they are being given the opportunity to express their feelings and emotions and to also monitor mood and behaviour