The green-fingered young people
of Prior's Court have been helping a
nationwide project to make a royal
society's awards scheme more inclusive.
Prior's Court was one of just 20 schools chosen from
around 250 applicants to take part in a consultation
event run by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
to explore greater inclusivity in its School Gardening
Awards programme.
The programme encourages gardening within
schools and community groups, and making use of
gardens as a valuable learning resource.
The young people of Autumn House at Prior's Court
were supported to complete the pupil questionnaire
as part of the consultation. The questionnaire was
broken down in PECS with "Like/Dislike" response
options used to elicit opinions.
Prior's Court will receive a £200 voucher to spend on
gardening items for taking part in the consultation.
Wendy Moffatt, our Land-based vocational learning
programme lead (which covers the areas of
horticulture and animal care), said: "The benefits
of gardening to our young people are huge -
from learning motor skills via use of hand tools to
understanding the difference between plants and
weeds, and of course the reward aspect of seeing a
plant that you have nurtured grow and bloom.
"It is important for programmes celebrating
the power of gardening to be inclusive and so
we are hugely proud to have been a part of this
consultation run by the RHS with their school
gardening programme. We are very excited to see
how the programme develops and look forward to
taking part in it again in its new format."
Supporting gardening scheme to be more inclusive
This approach included
putting time limits on
Alfie's mealtimes and
snack times, with Alfie
encouraged to make
reference to a timer
and extend these
times using the timer's
dial if he wanted
to. Alfie's need for
reassurance when
anxious was also
addressed.
During mealtimes, a
visual was provided to
Alfie outlining an eating
circle, demonstrating
the process of eating
(chew, swallow etc.).
The on-site Speech and
Language Therapists at Prior's
Court developed a social story
for Alfie that outlined the
approach.
A dietitian had an input into
ensuring Alfie's weight did
not become dangerously
low.
From this approach, Alfie
regained a healthy weight,
the length of his meal
times reduced, and his
relationship with food
continues to improve.
There has been a marked
and sustained decrease in
Alfie asking for reassurance
during mealtimes.
Over a year period, Alfie's
Autumn House team has reported
an increase in average fruit and
veg consumption significantly,
and a reduction in salt, sugars and
fat intakes (see tables on facing
page).
Prior Insight's role
Without the data collected
via Prior Insight, devising and
analysing strategies like those
featured in this case study become
more difficult.
There can be many factors at play
when analysing data, which means
different conclusions or reasons for
change can be put forward.
But there are demonstrable
impacts of Prior Insight in this
case study. The inputting of data
around Alfie's food and drink
intake - especially the specific
types of food - and diary entries
which outlined how long Alfie was
taking to eat meals allowed for
some conclusions to be drawn and
then the impact of interventions to
be measured.
Without easier data analysis, the
root cause of Alfie's problematic
relationship with food would be
more based in theory.
However, with Prior Insight, we can
demonstrate data positive trends
that support the implementation
of theories and an approach which
is now allowing Alfie to live a
healthier and happier life.
And, as with all success stories, it
has been about combining data
usage with the on-the-ground
knowledge of Alfie's staff members
and family.