The Shine a Light Awards are designed to recognise individuals and teams that have excelled in their support of children and young people’s communication, particularly for those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Run by the Communication Trust and supported by Pearson Assessment, the awards took place last month when a total of 20 prizes were handed out across a range of sectors, including education.
The Secondary School of the Year award went to Hampstead School in London in recognition of its consistent promotion of “active listening and effective speaking among staff and students”.
The school, which has a senior leader for SLCN, has worked for six years with the local authority’s Speech and Language Therapy Team to deliver its Listen-EAR programme – EAR standing for enjoy, achieve and respect.
It means that all year 7 pupils receive an active listening lesson where teachers observe the children and feedback to the SEN team, identifying any students who may need further support developing their communication skills. This observation continues as pupils move through the school.
The school also works closely with an educational psychologist to run extra communication interventions such as Lego therapy and social communication groups.
To encourage all their students to communicate, the school runs two reward schemes – “star of the hour” and “speaking and listening stars” – linked to effective use of speaking and listening, with teachers awarding a pupil at the end of each lesson.
In addition, the school runs annual communication promotion weeks such as Listening Week, Talk Fest, Speak Week and regularly runs No Pens Day Wednesday, where pupils put down their pens and take part in speaking and listening activities.
Highly commended were Peacehaven Community School in East Sussex and St Marylebone CE Bridge School in London.
Peacehaven was praised for the focus on staff training in areas such as using talk to develop writing skills and working with autistic children.
St Marylebone Bridge was praised for its work with parents, whereby a member of the speech and language therapy team interviews parents at the start of the academic year and parents are supported with advice and resources to help their children.
Anne Fox, director of The Communication Trust, said the finalists’ work would “inspire and motivate people right across the country”. She added: “They have shown what can be achieved when children and young people, who often struggle to communicate, are given the support they so richly deserve – support which can make a real difference to their life chances.”
For more information on the winning schools, visit www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/projects/shine-a-light-awards/