ALL parents are nervous when they send their child to school, but parents of children who are visually impaired are understandably petrified and for the first time handed over the care of their child to someone else.

And this is where the visual impairment support team at Sharples Primary School step in to ensure children with visual impairment have the same chance of succeeding as every other child. The children like all youngsters want to do really well, and this team ensures this can happen.

Fran Davies, support team leader, said “We are very pleased that the team working with children with a visual impairment have won the Support Worker of the Year award because it recognises the complex and specialist work they do. This includes; teaching Braille and mobility skills (i.e. long cane training), preparing giant print and Braille work for their lessons and supporting the children to make excellent progress across all subject areas. The team’s commitment to supporting these children to achieve their very best gives families peace of mind and hope for their future. Some of the children also have complex needs beyond their visual impairment and the team have developed their skills and training, very often in their own time, to ensure all children’s needs are met. The support team play a key role in school enabling children to access teaching and learning in class alongside their peers a strong example of this. was the end of Key Stage Two 2019 cohort which had 6 children with a visual impairment the school being in the top 20 per cent of the country for the progress children make in reading and writing.

The schools results also beat local and national measures with Sharples Primary improving attainment and the amount of progress children make in reading, writing and maths every year for the last three years at the end of Year Six. The percentage of children achieving the higher standard was also above the national statistic in both reading and writing and for the combined measure of reading, writing and maths.

Comments the members of the team supporting children with a visual impairment include “We feel it is a privilege to work with our children. It is truly inspiring to support them in their academic development and to share with them their achievements and successes” and “It is rewarding and a pleasure to support these children in a way that can enable them to become independent and achieve their potential.

The dedication demonstrated by all staff at the school has enabled children with a visual impairment to take part in a broad enriched curriculum including wider opportunities such as: swim galas, sporting events, ice-skating, outward bound activities and residential PGL trips alongside their classmates.

Although some unit based specialist teaching is needed for the children, the ethos for all at Sharples is that the school is fully inclusive and all the children are working in their class on the same curriculum with the support that they need. Ofsted (May 2019) noted that ‘Leaders successfully incorporate the provision for pupils who have a visual impairment within mainstream classes’ and that ‘The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good, particularly for visually impaired pupils’.

Acting head Janet Samways said: “If you were to visit our school it would not be obvious which children have a visual impairment the majority of the time because of the high standard of support and ethos of inclusion.” We are extremely proud of all the children at Sharples who are kind and thoughtful and understand that we are all different but equally important. The school children and staff recently came to school in odd socks to promote this as part of the wellbeing weeks and anti-bullying week”.

If you would like to visit the school, they are holding an Open Day on Wednesday December 11th and a Stay and Play for under -fives and families and you will be very welcome. Further details can be got by contacting the school on 01204 333077.