We are especially proud to have been awarded Makaton Friendly Status once again this year. The Makaton Friendly scheme recognises local organisations and businesses that strive to make their services accessible to children and adults who use Makaton.

Meadowside School uses a Total Communication approach, which includes use of Makaton Signing across the school to support communication.

Staff have completed the Foundation 2 day training with the Makaton Charity and some staff have gone on to complete the Enhanced 3 day training.

To raise the profile of Makaton Signing, we have a group called the Signing Singers who sing songs with signs at events and occasions. We have ‘Sign of the Week’ for all classes to build their signing vocabulary.

Helen Adams, Regional Makaton Tutor noted

“ I first started working with Meadowside two years ago when senior teaching staff attended my Makaton Foundation workshop following which the school invested significant time and effort in training up all their staff to be able to use Makaton signs/symbols alongside their everyday communication. The School is committed to the everyday use of Makaton to support the students as demonstrated by weekly staff refresher sessions and parents sessions. I look forward to continuing to support Meadowside on an ongoing basis”

^{Helen Adams, Regional Makaton Tutor}

Helen Adams,
Regional Makaton Tutor/Speech and Language Therapist. BSc MPhil MRCSLT