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Brookfields School awarded ELKLAN Communication Friendly Setting Accreditation
We are passionate that all pupils at Brookfields School have a right to be heard and to be able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and needs to others in an effective way. We have worked tirelessly to develop our Total Communication Approach and Environment which enables and 
empowers our pupils’ voices to be heard.
We could not have achieved this without working in partnership with our Speech and Language Therapy team nor without the commitment and support of staff and families. In 2012, we trained our Speech Therapists and 2 of our Lead Communication Teachers as ELKLAN Tutors to enable them to deliver and assess the accredited courses written by ELKLAN. These courses enable staff to increase their knowledge of how they can support and empower the communication potential of all our learners.
So who are ELKLAN? ELKLAN was established in 1999 by two experienced speech and language therapists, Liz Elks and Henrietta McLachlan, in response to a demand for training to be delivered by speech and language therapists to education staff to enable them to be more effective in their support of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
We wanted to demonstrate and evidence the impact the training was having on the pupils’ ability to communicate so we decided that we should apply for ELKLAN’s accreditation by becoming a ‘Communication Friendly Setting’, which is awarded to settings that have trained and support all their staff in communication and language development. This project was led by Sam Raw (Communication Lead), Miriam Gulliford and Emma Pontefract (Speech and Language Therapists) with support from Catherine Bernie (Deputy Head), Kimberley Legg (Complex Needs Lead), Jamie Bonewell (Head of Key Stage 2) and Sara Avenell (then Head of Early Years).
Becoming a CFSe involves three elements, each of which can be commissioned separately:
- Training Teaching Assistants
- Training the whole setting staff through trained Lead Communication Practitioners
- An audit of how well practices and policies have been embedded in the setting
This team worked hard in training staff and collecting evidence, demonstrating how knowledge in targeted interventions were being embedded into day to day practice to reflect our Total Communication Policy.
We are thrilled to announce that we have achieved this ELKLAN accreditation which acknowledges the commitment and vision of all the staff at Brookfields School to improve and develop our provision for our pupils.
If you would like to know more about ELKLAN and how we can train your staff, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0118 942 1382
