Erskine Waterfront Campus receives ADHD Friendly Schools Award

How the award came about:

There is so much that EWC does to support its learners through the physical environment, social environment and learning environment. Going for the ADHD Friendly School Award created the opportunity to showcase and celebrate all our good practice in relation to supporting young people with ADHD. We're always striving to learn and improve, in line with current research and understandings of best practice. Engaging with the award process created the opportunity for reflection and action planning to ensure that we are moving things forward in our practice. 

I was keen to participate in this process because my teaching role at the school spans all classes and has a focus on, amongst other things, raising the profile of and celebrating neurodiversity. Working with all the classes also gave me an opportunity to gather the voices of learners with ADHD to find out what makes their learning easier and more challenging. 

Achieving the award involved demonstrating that we uphold 6 key principles, identified by the ADHD Foundation:

The 6 ADHD Friendly School Pledges: 
 

We pledge to work with the ADHD Foundation to provide a training session for our staff team.

1. We pledge to provide regular opportunities for all learners with ADHD to have access to physical activity and exercise during the school day.
2. We pledge to provide opportunities for all learners with ADHD to learn self-calming strategies such as breathing, progressive muscle relaxation or mindfulness.
3. We pledge to provide tactile resources in every classroom.
4. We pledge to produce a display for the whole school and hold one assembly to celebrate the achievements of people living with ADHD.
5. We pledge to provide information and support for parents and carers of children and young people with ADHD.

All the teaching staff were involved in an audit to reflect on what each of us is doing to uphold each principle and to suggest next steps to further develop our practices and resources.

Impact of getting the award:

Striving for and achieving the award had an impact in the following ways:

• It created a focus for gathering the views of our ADHD learners
• It created a focus for celebrating the strengths and achievements of people in society with ADHD
• It created a focus for further developing the knowledge of our staff, young people and parents through training, sharing of resources, creating an ADHD noticeboard, and sharing information through an ADHD-focused assembly.
• It raised the profile of neurodiversity and ADHD within our school community, encouraging staff and young people with ADHD to be proud of how their brains work and the particular strengths that brings.
• It also allowed us to acknowledge the challenges that come with ADHD, many of which arise from a lack of knowledge in society about how ADHD affects people and what supports people with ADHD to face and overcome these challenges.