Visitors from China
From L- R: Ms Wang Waxin,Director of The Amity Home of Blessings, Jasmine Miller and Ms Kong Chan Ning
Following a visit to China to present at an International Autism Conference last year, our Principal, Jasmine Miller was delighted to welcome a reciprocal visit from professionals based in Nanjing in China this month.
Ms Kong Chan Ning and Ms Wang Waxin who work at the Amity Centre for Children were keen to see how we support our pupils at New Struan School.
Political and societal differences aside, the professionals face some of the same challenges in supporting their young people with autism. As well as observing practice with the classrooms in our school, the visitors were eager to see our support service in Elgin where we have an education base in Elgin Academy. In Western China there is no support for children with autism in mainstream education. As a result parents struggle to support their child with their education and often end up giving up their own jobs.
When asked what key learning they would take away with them, the visitors said they were particularly interested in how we use PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). PECS enables our pupils to communicate their thoughts and feelings through the use of pictorial cards. Speaking about their visit Ms Kong and Ms Waxin said: “We have learnt so much from observing practice in your school and we are planning to use PECS a lot more in our centre when we return.”
In other news, our new pupils are settling in well to life at New Struan School. This week we started a pilot programme called ‘Active Struan’ with a small group who enjoyed this new morning exercise class. As much as it’s good to keep fit and healthy though, we all need time to relax and unwind and so during assembly we incorporated a meditation session. Pupils had the opportunity to lay down on mats, bean bags and cushions, taking ten minutes out to relax. Everyone was so quiet, making the most of this peaceful time –well done all!
