Bamburgh School’s Occupational Therapy service aims to support its students through their academic careers. Using a range of standardised and non-standardised assessments to develop effective interventions. Students receive support to engage in everyday classroom based tasks such as handwriting, cutting, sticking and organisational skills. Our children also receive support to develop gross motor coordination, balance and body awareness. These skills are important for everyday life activities such as play, dressing and navigating the school environment.
As a qualified Sensory Integration (SI) practitioner our OT service also offers our students support with sensory processing difficulties. SI difficulties impact emotional regulation, tolerance and attention. Many of our children have individual sensory diets, adaptations to their classrooms and dedicated one to one therapy sessions. These interventions both improve and reduce the impact of sensory processing difficulties for our pupils at Bamburgh School.
In addition to OT our service also offers group activities such as Lego Therapy and our Forest School group. The aim of these groups are the development of social interaction, communication and group working skills amongst peers.
Before joining Bamburgh School I worked at the NHS Children and Young Peoples Service (CYPS) in Sunderland. Here I supported many families experiencing difficulties with neurodiverse and mental health conditions, such as Autism, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attachment Disorder. I worked alongside a variety of health care professionals, developing my knowledge, skills and experience. It was at this time I trained to be a Sensory Integration (SI) practitioner which has allowed me to develop further as a health care professional. I have now been at Bamburgh School for over ten years in which time our OT service has grown and developed into a key resource for the school and its students. The aim of the OT service is to continue to explore new strategies, working alongside teaching staff to improve our pupils’ experience of school and support them in achieving their potential.