Pond Meadow Therapists and Nurses
The Therapy Teams at Pond Meadow School include Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists who are all NHS staff based on-site but employed by Surrey County Council. Our Nursing Team are also on site and know all the pupils really well.
The teams are very much part of our school community, working in partnership with pupils, parents, carers and teaching staff. All the teams work to sure the health and therapeutic need of all pupils are met so they reach their full potential whilst at school.
Speech and Language Therapy Team
Speech and Language Therapy is provided onsite at Pond Meadow School, and funded by Surrey County Council. We are an integral part of the school team: Louise Mead (Team Lead; Louise.Mead@surreycc.gov.uk), Laura Nevin (Speech and Language Therapist; Laura.Nevin@surreycc.gov.uk) Jackie Millington-Lee (Speech and Language Therapist; Jackie.MillingtonLee@surreycc.gov.uk), Kate Kenyon (Speech and Language Therapy Assistant; Kate.Kenyon@surreycc.gov.uk). We have a generic Speech and Language email address which would be useful to cc into any email with the members of the team salt@pond-meadow.surrey.sch.uk. If phoning, our extension is: 7346
The therapy team collaborate with school staff to embed communication strategies in lessons and social activities. We spend time in classes with students and staff, offer training, work with the leadership team, and problem solve to make sure all students have an effective way of communicating, and reasons to communicate.
Universal & Targeted Support
We help schools create an environment with high quality communication support, using a total communication approach.
We offer advice, resources, modelling and coaching for school-run intervention groups targeting language and social communication skills.
We offer further support at school’s request e.g. classroom audits, training and advice for staff, attendance at parent’s evenings and supporting staff to set communication targets.
Specialist Support
When children need more support from our team, we offer individual, paired, or small group sessions, in and out of class. We monitor and review progress, and contribute to the Annual Review for all pupils receiving specialist input.
Dysphagia
We also oversee dysphagia (eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties) across the school. We provide training and advice to school staff and our aim is to promote safe, efficient and enjoyable mealtimes. Some students will need assessment, and for key adults to receive advice and specific training on implementing recommendations in order to support them with their eating and drinking.
If you have any concerns about your child’s speech, language, communication or feeding skills, please contact your child’s class teacher or the school SENCO in the first instance.
Useful Website Information for Parents
Modelling AAC in everyday activities
Occupational Therapy Team
The Occupational Therapy Team, who are a part of NHS Children and Family Health Surrey, visit Pond Meadow School twice a week. The occupational therapists are at Pond Meadow School all day on Monday and Thursday. We have two occupational therapists at the school, Charlotte Platt and Shir Grunebaum who are both HCPC registered paediatric occupational therapists. We also have Suzi Smith who is an occupational therapy assistant with extensive experience supporting young people with a range of needs.
All students at Pond Meadow School access universal occupational therapy support. This includes generic and specific advice to the school in supporting a child’s occupational participation and performance. Occupational therapy strategies and skills are already imbedded into the daily practice of teachers and staff at Pond Meadow School and the occupational therapy team provides direct training to support staff in incorporating occupational therapy into the students’ timetables.
Some children may access occupational therapy as per the Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) whilst others may need specific referrals to occupational therapy to support with more specialist needs.
The occupational therapy team supports children’s engagement in daily activities with a specific focus on:
· Attention and regulation to support learning activities
· Self-care and independent living skills (e.g. dressing, toileting, mealtimes)
· Gross motor and movement ability
· Fine motor skills and ability to use hands to manipulate objects (pencil manipulation, using scissors, handwriting, knife/fork etc)
· Sensory processing skills
· Assistive and adaptive equipment
· Upper limb splinting
· Equipment that supports postural positioning (e.g. supportive chairs, toileting aids)
If you have any questions, please contact the occupational therapy team at ot@pond-meadow.surrey.sch.uk
School Nurses
3 school nurses provide outstanding nursing care and support for our pupils.
We work with families, children and young people to ensure the child’s health needs can be met in school and to enable them to access their education.
We work alongside other members of the multi disciplinary team, such as Paediatricians, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Community Children's Nurses, Learning Disability Nurses, Speech and Language Therapists, Dieticians, Continence Nurses, Immunisations team, 0-25 Education Team, local and national hospitals and social care to ensure your child’s needs are fully met.
We hold specialist clinics within the school and support families with appointments.
