Wellbeing Room

Mrs Gatiss has always wanted to develop a sensory area. This is what she has to say about it, now it's been done!:

 

Thanks to the time, effort and support of a number of staff, this is becoming a reality and we are super excited for the students!
The Education Support base (ES4) has been long over-due a make-over, and so earlier this academic year, I spent some time with one of our new TAs, Miss. Summer, talking through my vision for the room. She then went away and designed a wonderful room which would provide a relaxing, calming and sensory environment.
During May half term, I picked up my paintbrush and painted the room. The look we went for was ombre as this is believed to have a calming effect when someone’s emotions are heightened. Miss. Summer finished the blending off (due to my lack of artistic skills!). The end product was a beautiful and calming colour scheme which immediately transformed the room!
As the weeks have gone on, we have added items to this room in order to create the provision we want. With the continued support of the SEN Team and some of our wonderful students, we are adding items which are well-known to support well-being. We have some wonderfully soft throws on the sofas now to give a real sense of comfort and relaxation.
We have sensory pillows and exercise balls (which are proving to be extremely popular!)
The lighting is just lovely – we have some vertical lights as seen in the photos below. We have the bubble light tubes, as well as the galaxy projector. This also has a Bluetooth speaker so we are able to play relaxing music to further add to the calming effect we want the room to have for our students.
Moving forwards, we will develop a plan of how we can best utilise this provision and safely open it up for students who need it. We still have work to do to perfect it, but we are so excited at the progress we have made so far.

With special thanks to Miss. Summer, the Site Team, Mrs. Gabbi, Mrs. Holt and staff who have leant dust sheets and paint brushes!