Page 18 - SEN107 SEN Magazine July-August 2020
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M ost primary schools will have heard the term ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ (PFA). But what does it mean, and how can we ensure as primary schools and as caregivers that we work together to plan opportunities for our children for the duration of their school years? In short, PFA is designed to support families, schools and other agencies to ensure that children receive the right care and support to enable them to live as full and active an adult life as possible. The PFA programme covers four areas to aid in structuring a child’s development, which are outlined below. Each area gives us an idea of the topics we can start discussing with our children or activities we can start incorporating into their lives from an early age. Employment ‘Employment’ focuses on how we can prepare our children for future employment opportunities, education and training. Parents can start by simply talking to their child about what kind of job they would be interested in, and then using that to create different experiences for them, such as volunteering, meeting role models, or bringing them on real world visits to build their aspirations. As schools, we work with parents to ensure our pupils have a full understanding of their future options and really think about their short and longer term aims. Our work inside the classroom means that students have a good understanding of numeracy and literacy, a key building block for the journey to employment. Schools can also prepare pupils with a range of experiences, such as arranging personalised opportunities to visit universities or colleges for taster days, creating tailored clubs after school for different interests, and organising chances to visit potential employers to better understand the working day. Friends, Relationships and Community For many of our pupils it is important we help them to create positive relationships in and out of school. This area of the PFA framework advises schools on how best to do this, as well as Schools and parents must work together to ensure our most vulnerable pupils are able to live as independent a life as possible Tina Murray talks about how the ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ programme can help children to achieve a bright future. Preparation for adulthood: Support SEND pupils for their futures SEN 107 senmagazine.co.uk 18 Transition