Learning Support Assistant

Maple Ridge School continues to be a GOOD school. Parents describe the school as ‘amazing’ because they see their children make such strong progress. The talented staff team are proud to work at the school. (OFSTED October 2022)

We are a school for pupils aged 4-11years old. All of our children have learning difficulties, and most have autism, and we are currently developing our provision for children with more severe and complex learning difficulties in response to the level of need in our local area.

At Maple Ridge School, we aim to make a difference to all of our pupils and their families by ensuring that children are happy, feel safe and enjoy their school experience.

We provide an individually tailored education to prepare them for life ahead, by enabling children to have the confidence and self-esteem to be ready to learn. We focus on developing self-awareness, social interaction and communication skills.

Our vision is to provide all children with the opportunity to reach their potential and be as independent as possible, equipped with the necessary skills to be positively included in the local community and the wider society.

Maple Ridge has an extremely effective Home/School support provision. Maple Ridge provides outreach for mainstream provisions in the community and Thomas Outreach Project (TOP) support for pre-school children with ASD.

At Maple Ridge we aim to:

• Provide opportunities for the staff to further develop their skills and expertise
• Reward achievement, however small
• Teach children to reflect on their own actions and successes
• Be role models in the way in which we behave towards each other
• Be approachable and accessible to children and their parents
• Maintain regular contact with parents and keep them informed of their child’s progress
• Ensure effective teamwork within school and effective partnerships within the community
• Be a centre of expertise providing support to the wider community

We aim to provide a curriculum which will:

• Enable pupils to interact and communicate with a wide range of people, teaching communication support systems where necessary
• Encourage pupils to apply their learning into real life situations
• Increase pupils' awareness and understanding of their environment and the world
• Comprise suitably differentiated and achievable work activities
• Enable pupils to express preferences, communicate needs appropriately, make choices and make decisions