Therapies in Schools

Following a 2 year pilot project across three coastal schools The Therapies In Schools (TIS) service is now being rolled out across West Sussex and has recently joined your child’s school.

The TIS service consists of additional physiotherapy and occupational therapy and has been funded by West Sussex County Council and delivered by Sussex Community NHS Trust. The TIS service works collaboratively with the existing therapy provision in the school to provide a ‘one team therapy approach’. The existing therapy provision in the school will remain unchanged. TIS offers additional input through delivering whole school training via it’s accredited modular training programme, and additional support to teaching and support staff. TIS may also provide short term intensive therapeutic input often where home visits and community outreach work is needed, and in class support as appropriate. By TIS therapists working intensively to achieve set goals with a few students at a time and building on the existing knowledge of the dedicated school staff through the TIS accredited training, TIS aims to enable the therapy team as a whole to provide more therapy input across the school.

Questions:

My child is already seeing a physiotherapist/occupational therapist will they now get a new one?

No. If your child is receiving therapy services this will not change. However, if your child’s needs change and would benefit from a period of intensive input, for example- following a hospital admittance, you may receive an additional therapist to carry out that additional support.

What if I want to request extra input via the TIS therapists myself?

Referrals to the TIS therapists are made via the school or therapy service. This ensures a fair service and to allows the therapy team as a whole to decide whether the new referral is for the TIS service or whether existing provision is appropriate.

What is the new training that TIS delivers and can parents access it?

The training is in three streams: Sensory Processing, Life Skills, and Physical Development. Each stream has three levels. Over the coming months, TIS will deliver Level 1 training to all school class based staff. Level 2 is available for those who show interest in learning more advanced skills and Level 3 creates ‘Champions’ in that field who can be approached by their staff peers for support and advice. We will be offering at least Level 1 in all streams to parents, families and supporting carers and will provide details of this next term once the new TIS service is up and running.

How often are the new therapists in my child’s school?

This varies depending on the size of the school and the complexities of the needs within the schools. Smaller schools may have just one or two days of extra therapy cover, larger schools may have around 3 days per week. We are still trying to recruit new therapists to some of the posts.