A new school for children with severe and complex needs is using BSF to develop a groundbreaking inclusive technology - including "immersive" spaces which can be transformed from the depths of an ocean to a hairdressing salon in minutes.

By Sally McKeown

“Transformation is at the heart of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) process so don’t give us technology out of a catalogue,” says Steve Horsted of Pioneer School. “We want technology for our pupils that has not yet been seen in schools.”
 
Pioneer School in Basildon, Essex is an all-age school for pupils with severe and complex needs. It came into existence when two schools merged in 2003, but the problem was that the building was not well suited to the full range of pupils who were trying to use it – and it certainly was not equipped to move them towards 21st century learning.

With funding from the Government and his local authority, headteacher Steve Horsted set about planning facilities which would fulfil his vision. However, there was not enough money to do everything he wanted.

Pioneer School's new building was ready last January - now they are working on the final stage, notably the ICT.

“We had to decide whether to compromise on quality or cut back the scale of what we were planning to do. We decided we would go for top quality and then apply for funding in the future to build a second phase.”

They moved into their new building last January and have set about kitting it out with technology that will make a real difference to their pupils.

The ICT challenge
 
Essex has included Pioneer in its current tranche of BSF projects and is now working on plans for the final stage of the new school.  However, unlike heads of some other special schools, Steve Horsted is very clear about what he wants.  He has set a series of challenges for RM, the preferred ICT partner for the Essex BSF programme. He told them that he was not prepared to accept off-the-shelf solutions for a virtual learning environment and that they would need to create something from scratch.

"We have worked with Essex’s E-folio which lets us create class pages and communicate with parents but it is essentially a primary school product adapted to our needs, and we wanted something which was made especially for our learners.”
 
Pioneer believes that its pupils are to be lifelong learners and that learning does not necessarily happen between the hours of 9 and 3. It provides lots of out of school activities and has a good range of clubs for informal learning – but the school wants to make sure that pupils can access materials and resources wherever and whenever they choose. That means having a VLE.

"In a school where children have complex needs," says Steve Horsted, "some will have communication problems and others will have issues with short-term memory, so it is good if parents can log on and check out their children’s progress for themselves. Children might want to carry on with games and activities they have used at school or show other family members some of the topics they have been working on."
 
The Pioneer Virtual Learning Environment will need to offer key applications in alternative ways. “There needs to be a log-in, but our pupils cannot necessarily write, so it might involve logging in by clicking on a symbol or picture or a simple sequence," Steve says. "Log-ins need to be more sophisticated for older learners – a pupil of 16 may still not be a good text user but will need a more adult login that is still not text dependent. Once the learner has logged in, the system needs to show content which is appropriate for age and development. The desktop should be tailored for the individual. Access is an issue too. We want word banks, pictures, symbols as well as voice recognition."

"There also need to be communication tools. Our learners will want to send emails but may not be able to type text or search an address book so we want alternative text input methods and an address book which is photo or icon based.” 

Inclusive Technology, working in partnership with RM, is striving to find a way of creating a VLE which can deliver age-appropriate materials in formats which work for the Pioneer youngsters.

Immersive environments
 
While other schools content themselves with a sensory room (Pioneer has two), Steve wants to explore the possibilities offered by immersive environments. Spacekraft, another part of the RM group, showed the school a prototype which offers a practical solution to creating 3D environments. Its software allows for rear projection on to three walls, the ceiling and floor. In an instant a room is transformed into an underwater world where sharks and fishes swim about.

Above is the shadow of a boat and as children walk across the floor, it reacts to their movements so starfish curl up and crabs scuttle away. These fantasy worlds could range from the Sahara to the Arctic or even a fish market and could be reinforced with changes in temperature, sounds and smells to make them more authentic.
 
The pupils liked this but were even more impressed when, after a five minute break, the same room was transformed into a hairdressing salon with projections of sinks and mirrors and all the paraphernalia of a modern salon. A few props and a couple of chairs was all it took before the pupils quite naturally moved into role play.

The software can recreate scenes and make 3D projections from a few still photographs so pupils can experience a supermarket, a bank or an office, "This technology will be really powerful,” said Steve Horsted.  “We can use the fantasy environments such as the underwater scene for curriculum work or as a stimulus for creativity. The real-life settings will be a great resource for our pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) who can rehearse and practice being in unfamiliar environments. We will be able to take our own pictures and recreate a range of environments that could be significant for our learners. “

  Steve Horsted feels he is lucky that he has a strong staff group that shares his vision, as much of his time over the past few years has been devoted to getting the current building up and running and planning for their BSF build too. He feels that the time has been well spent: “You have to challenge and push to make sure you get he best. If you do not put in the time, there is a danger that you end up just having a new build. None of us knows what technology will be like in five years’ time. All we do know is that it will be different from what we have today. We have to prepare for the future and not be limited by what is on offer in the here and now.”
 
Hints and tips
 

• Do not underestimate time needed for BSF. To make it a useful and purposeful experience you need to be prepared to put the hours in.
• BSF is intended to be transformational so do not just accept off-the-shelf solutions
• Engage with bidders and challenge them.
• Make sure you will be able to provide for a  range of different lesson types and learning styles.
• Design from the inside out – start with your learners not with what the bidders can offer.

Sally McKeown is a freelance writer and is an expert in special needs and inclusion.