Students, teachers and councillors could not hide their delight at the official opening of a new school hub catering to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) following a £450,000 transformation.
On Wednesday, 17 September, the Alder Brook Hub at Fiddlers Lane Community Primary School in Irlam welcomed students and staff for the first time, providing a dedicated space for SEND children separate from the main Alder Brook site in Winton.
The hub, which currently has 15 students enrolled and the capacity to accommodate seven more, aims to house 30 children aged between 5-11 in the future.
The new facility was funded through a portion of a £17.9 million investment announced by the council, aimed at creating 230 extra secondary school places, along with additional specialist provisions ahead of the new school year.
It includes new bespoke learning environments, breakout spaces and room for an outdoor playground to be created.
When asked what the best improvement was, teacher Nicki Bentley pointed out that the new media walls with an interactive whiteboard front were “just fantastic.”
Bentley explained she had been asked by Alder Brook Headteacher, Giles Caldwell, to lead the consultation around the design of the new building: “I met with the building team and the architects to make sure we created areas in the school that benefit the children.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to see the project from the beginning. I’ve been on site with my hard hat over the summer and have been involved in everything from where we put electrics and computer points, to the carpet colour and the furniture.
“We have got a sensory room, two big classrooms, a continuous provision room and breakout rooms for the children to deregulate and de-escalate their behaviour when needed, we even considered the colour of the walls, which are the same as at the main Alder Brook school, to make the transition as easy as possible.”
Bentley is the proud owner of Hugo, an incredibly polite, placid and friendly Black Labrador who works as one of the hub’s two therapy dogs.
Meanwhile, teacher Chloe Ayre owns Ruud, Alder Brook’s original therapy dog. She says that the children work to higher standards in the presence of their four-legged friends.
“The kids love them and you will see that a lot of negative behaviours don’t escalate as high as they did before we had Hugo and Ruud.
“The kids love them and you will see that a lot of negative behaviours don’t escalate as high as they did before we had Hugo and Ruud.
“Some of the children love the deep pressure touch, others will sit next to the dogs on the couches and read to them.
“They bring such a calming presence and having them here is brilliant.”
Ayre joined Alder Brook in 2017 as a teaching assistant at the main campus. “It’s nice to be in a calmer environment where the kids can have a little bit of independence and enjoy their last two years of primary school.
She oversees the class with less complex needs at the Hub, and highlighted that her students are engaging with 90% of the formal curriculum, with many of them expected to reintegrate into mainstream secondary school at the age of 11.
“As long as they leave here being confident in themselves, semi-independent and ready to move on to the big wide world, we can be happy with our work,” Ayre explained.
Headteacher Giles Caldwell outlined that the opening of the new Hub was “ a great opportunity for the children. It’s really going to set them up for their next stage of school and gives us lots more opportunity to provide different interventions for the pupils, so it’s great.
The good part of being over on this site is the partnership between us and Fiddler’s Lane School, where we can share the resources. They’re allowing us to share their outdoor areas, which is fantastic as we don’t have their space on our own site,” he added.
“We have worked in partnership probably from January last year, to get this up and running. So it’s been a really successful partnership. It has been in the works for two years when we found out that we had secured this space.
“We have established pathways to meet the needs of the children here and, at Alder Brook, we try to facilitate them reaching their full potential.”
Councillor Mishal Saeed and Councillor Tracy Kelly who represent Higher Irlam and Peel Green, said: “As local councillors, we have been committed to improving opportunities and support for our young people in every aspect of their development.
“These new facilities will bring a much-needed improvement to outdated facilities for our communities in Salford. We hope the planned new outdoor play area will not only enhance children’s play time but also make their learning more enjoyable and enriching.”
Councillor Jim Cammell, Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services, was incredibly impressed with the site’s sensory room, and noted that it was “one of the best” he had seen.
“We are here celebrating the opening of the Alder brook Hub. Alder brook’s a school main site in Winton and this extra provision here in Irlam means that they can take more children.
“It’s really exciting, it’s a lovely space, it’s improving our capacity for children with extra needs. It’s really good to see it all in person, all come to life.
“We have a big need for extra provision in the city, it’s really useful that the neighbouring school, Fiddler’s Lane, Alder brook and the local authority have all worked together to make this happen.”
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