Who the provision is for?
Think Differently Education is designed to support students from UKS2 and KS3 who are neurodivergent (diagnosed or suspected) and experience EBSA, autistic burnout and anxiety.
Unfortunately, we are unable to accept students with a history of verbally or physically aggressive behaviour or those who pose a risk of absconding. This allows us to create the calm environment that supports our ability to build emotional safety fo rour anxious students.
Types of Placement
Think Differently Education is ideally suited for long-term placements. However, we are open to discussions about short-term placements if this is what you require.
Placement Structure
- We are initially offering 1 or 2 full days a week. These will be Monday and Tuesday.
- Initial home visits will be offered to all students who join the provision. These will initially be about getting to know them and building trust with the student and their families before they transition to our woodland session. For some students, this may be one or two sessions, while others may need these sessions to run over several weeks or months before they are able to transition to sessions outside of the home.
- Once a student is ready to transition to the woodland, we will create an individualised transition plan. This will include transition booklets, site visits with a parent/carer, sessions in our soft entry area and opportunities to meet a small group of peers already attending our sessions.
- Within the main provision, students work closely with a key teacher to build their sense of emotional safety and guide them through their personalised curriculum offer. This involves a range of low-demand learning opportunities, initially linked to the student’s existing interests.
- Our bespoke curriculum integrates outdoor learning with core curriculum areas including Maths, English, Science, Technology and Art.
- Daily attendance reports will be provided to schools via email or phone.
- We create online learning records to document attainment and progress, which will be available to parents/carers and schools.
- Once students are ready to go back to school, we will work closely with schools to create reintegration plans. Some students will be able to reintegrate relatively quickly, but for many of our students it will take much longer.
Referrals
The referral process is as follows:
- If you have a student you wish to refer to Think Differently Education, we have an online referral form available on our website - see the link below.
- Within seven days of your initial referral, we will send out an information request. This will include a request for information about why you feel a referral into our provision is necessary, details of the young person's strengths and challenges, a copy of their EHCP or SEND support plan (if they have one), any risk assessments that are in place and a contact for their parent/carer so we can discuss the referral with them.
- You will then be invited to a screening meeting and site visit with Becky or Sue.
- If we agree that we are the correct placement for the young person, we will work together to create a placement plan. This will include an initial meeting with Sue or Becky and the young person's parent/carer, at least one home visit and then a planned transition onto the site. The speed of this transition will be dependent on the young person's needs.