Talocher School, a specialist school for young people aged 9-16 with autism and associated learning difficulties, has achieved a compliant rating on their recent Estyn report.
The school, which is part of Aspris, is located on the outskirts of Monmouth and has a mission to empower learners though meaningful and engaging learning experiences, developing their independence, resilience and communication skills. The report endorsed this, saying: “Talocher School provide a supportive environment where strong relationships enable pupils to feel safe and re-engage with learning successful. Staff know pupils very well and use this understanding to create calm, purposeful learning experiences that over time build pupils confidence.”
Colleagues at the school were praised for ‘adapting their approaches thoughtfully in response to pupils’ needs’ and their ‘consistent modelling and a well-developed health and wellbeing curriculum (in helping) pupils develop respect, confidence and positive relationships with staff and each other’. Leaders were described as providing ‘clear direction and having established a reflective culture that supports improvement’.
The report calls out the structured and purposeful approach to developing pupils’ reading skills, as a particular strength, explaining: “The school meets pupils at their individual levels of need, supporting progression from early reading skills through to reading for a range of purposes, including GCSE-level texts.”
