Transition Support: Young People: Plans and Possibilities

This sixteen day programme supports special schools take a central
place in securing meaningful futures for their students as they prepare
to leave school and move into adult life. Accommodating up to thirty
people including staff, allied professionals and family members, the
programme begins by working with the leadership team to bring
together key professionals from the range of agencies involved in
transition. Over the next eight to ten months we will work with
professionals from all agencies to enable them use a range of person
centred thinking skills and tools in their everyday work. We train staff
to facilitate person centred reviews and help them explore
opportunities for developing choice and control through the
curriculum, and we work with students to determine their wishes for
the future. The programme ends by sharing progress and identifying
next steps.

Day 1: Setting the Scene

Who is it for?
The senior leadership team (e.g. head teacher, deputy/assistant head,
head of post 16, governors)
What is the content of the day?

• National and local context for this work
• Transition strategy - what are your aspirations for your students

when they leave school?

• Establishing a base line - what is working and not working

around transition?

• How does the curriculum support your students to prepare for

life after school?

• Establishing success indicators - what do you want to get out of

the programme, and how will we know if we have been
successful?

Day 2: Multi Agency Working

Who is it for?
Senior leadership team and key allied professionals
What is the content of the day?
National and local context
Establishing common aims - signing up to school transition strategy
Agreeing ways of working together to maximise possibility of
achieving agreed aims
Action planning (including plans for informing and working alongside
parents over the year)

Day 3: Person Centred Thinking Training
Who is it for?
All staff, allied professionals and family members
What is the content of the day?
What is person centred thinking and how can it help us?
How person centred approaches link to current policy and trends in
children's and young peoples services
What are the differences between person centred thinking, person
centred planning and person centred reviews? How can we bring these
processes together to enhance the lives of children and young people?
Learning and practising some of the person centred thinking skills and
tools
Setting individual/team actions around next steps in developing the
use of person centred thinking skills and tools in your roles and daily
practice
Supporting materials:
Person centred thinking for schools and nurseries mini-book
Best Practice in schools - Using Person Centred Thinking with Children
and Young People Information pack
A summary of Possible Uses of Person Centred Thinking Tools in
Schools and Nurseries

Day 4: Person Centred Thinking Training
Who is it for?
Up to thirty staff, allied professionals and family members
What is the content of the day?

Exploring the importance of acting on what is learned from using
person centred thinking skills with children and young people
Learning and practising some more person centred thinking skills
Developing your own one page profile
How to build on the information that is learned from a one page
profile and develop this information into a person centred plan or
support plan
Setting individual and team actions around next steps in developing
the use of person centred thinking skills and tools in your roles and
daily practice

Day 5: Person Centred Review Training
Who is it for?
Twelve staff, allied professionals and family members [Participants
need to have attended the 2 day person centred thinking and skills
course outlined above.]
What is the content of the day?
What are person centred reviews?
What needs to be in place to have a meeting about our lives?
Preparation for a person centred review
Creative problem solving
Live person centred review with one of the course participants
The value base, characteristics, roles and responsibilities of a person
centred review facilitator
Top tips for facilitation
Action planning next steps
Supporting materials:
Person Centred Review Participants pack
Person Centred Review mini-book

Days 6-11: Coaching
Who is it for?
Twelve staff, allied professionals and family members who have
completed all three days training (person centred thinking and skills +
person centred review facilitation). It is recommended that participants
4
work in pairs - six days of coaching time is offered to the twelve
course participants.
What is the content of the day?
Working in pairs, course participants will organise and co-ordinate two
person centred reviews (preferably on the same day). Each pair of
facilitators will identify two young people who are interested in having
a person centred review and assist in preparing the young person, in
conjunction with their family, friends and professionals involved in
their review.
The coach will identify with the facilitators how they can best be
supported throughout the day. The coach needs to observe each
participant facilitate twp person centred reviews - one where they are
facilitating, the other review where they are supporting the facilitator.
During the coaching day each facilitator will receive supportive
feedback from their coach and tips around their development.

Days 12-15: Working Directly with Students
Who is it for?
Y14 students (or younger students leaving school)
What is the content of the day?
Working with groups of Y14 students to produce the beginnings of a
person centred plan
Demonstrating activities and approaches for staff to use with future
leavers groups

Day 16: Developing a Person Centred Curriculum
Who is it for?
Senior leadership and teachers with an interest in developing
personalised learning opportunities
What is the content of the day?
Current trends in curriculum development
Identifying ways in which school currently personalises learning
Linking the curriculum to key policies such as Every Child Matters and
the Six Keys to Citizenship
Curriculum development and OFSTED
Using person centred thinking tools to help students evaluate their
learning

Day 17: Reflections
Who is it for?
Senior leadership team

Content
What have we achieved?
How did we do in achieving the success indicators?
What are the issues that have emerged for the organisation to explore
Action planning - next steps