SOUND recordings of the dining room, photograph albums with recorded messages and assemblies with architects are just a few techniques an East Lancashire special school has used to allay fears and anxieties about moving to a new location.

Burnley Ridgewood Community High School headteacher Frances Entwistle together with staff put together a year long programme to alleviate as much stress as possible for the vulnerable youngsters they teach.

And she is hoping other special and mainstream schools in Burnley, Pendle, Blackburn and Darwen who are moving sites or co-locating under the Building Schools for the Future scheme schools will run similar projects Ridgewood Community High School, which caters for 11 to 19-years-old with special educational needs from moderate to profound and multiple learning difficulties, will be moving into Sir John Thursby Community College new site in Eastern Avenue, Burnley, in September.

The March Road, Burnley, school is involved in the Creative Partnership and teamed up with Horse and Bamboo Theatre Company in Rossendale to put the programme together.

They have created a treasure chest with sound bites of the school, photographs of all the staff and have given photograph albums with recorded messages for children so they can familiarise themselves with the new environment at home with their parents or carers.

The project has gained momentum over the past six months ready for the treasure chest to be opened on the first day in the new school.

Mrs Entwistle said: “We looked at our school traditions, what is special about the school and the important things we want to keep. It’s more that just books, it’s the environment, the ethos and how we are with each other.

“The staff have been working closely with the whole school but especially with year seven. We looked at multisensory ways to help the children feel more comfortable about the move.

“We changed the words to New York, New York to New School, New School.

“Staff also recorded familiar sounds such as the dining room. There is a lot of stress and anxiety for children and for parents moving school is a big thing.”