February 2021
Chances - The Alternative Provision That Works!
Latest News at Chances
As for everyone in education, it has been an extremely busy period for the staff at Chances Educational Support Services. Not only have we implemented the testing system for our students and staff, put into place all our procedures to ensure everyone is safe in the building but we have also remained fully open to support some of the most vulnerable children in our society. Over 80% of our students still attend school and 87% of those remote learning are fully engaged in the full timetable with additional support on offer in our bespoke remote learning package.
The Chances team has risen admirably to the challenge of another national lockdown and continued to enjoy working collaboratively with all of our partner schools, who are also working incredibly hard!
Well Being At Chances
At Chances we continue to keep your students safe and engaged in their education. As we continue to move into the new term and support our students, both at home remote learning or in school, we continue to take pride in the way we support their well being and work with them and their families to ensure they receive the help required to get through this very difficult period.
Every child at Chances is given a Key Worker whom they have regular meetings, to support them with any ongoing issues, most of which are from outside of education but are having a negative effect on their learning. We put into place skills and strategies that they can take back into the classroom to support them in their engagement but also highlight any issues that might need the support of an external agency, acting as the link personnel to set up any appropriate meetings.
Personal development is woven into the curriculum at Chances and Mr Leverton leads lessons where students look in detail at how they can recognise their emotions, learn supportive skills and realise it's ‘good to talk’.
Students also take a well being assessment, developed by the Chances team, that identifies any areas where students are feeling anxious or suffering from mental health issues. Chances staff are able to look at the world through the child's eyes to be aware of both how they feel and what practical skills and thinking strategies are needed to manage a situation successfully. We also have the time and expertise to talk to the families and support the whole household. Both parents and students have acknowledged the hard work and effort put in by our team and have given positive feedback.
Returning to School
The aim for any student at Chances is to return to mainstream education. We provide early intervention and continue to have extremely positive results with over 90% of our packages this academic year ending with a positive outcome to date.
We are unique in what we do and offer an expertise that helps your students re-engage with education and avoid exclusion. We focus purely on early intervention and refrain from moving away from what has made us so successful. There remains a strong focus on attracting the ‘right’ students who we can support and help and we put in a lot of effort that ensure there is a holistic approach when supporting your student when reintegrating back into school. This includes providing detailed ‘Ready for Return’ assessments which give detailed data on where the student is currently at and what areas they continue to need support in. We also provide you as a school a set of skills and strategies that work in supporting behaviour at Chances and can be adapted for mainstream education as well as capturing the students voices to help them take accountability of their return to school.
Whichever one of our bespoke packages a student is on, their journey with us includes their mainstream school and we make sure they are aware that they remain part of that process and still have a sense of belonging to you. They need to want to succeed and we help them achieve that!
At Chances we offer a variety of different packages that can support your school and your students - but we can also be as innovative and flexible as you need us to be to suit whatever support would benefit you and your children!
If you have any questions about what we do and how we do it - please do not hesitate to contact us and speak to Gary Hayes our Headteacher.
Email: gary.hayes@spacepsm.org
Telephone: 01626 864412
