Mary reports as follows:

It was a great pleasure to talk to the local Rotary Club and to celebrate the amazing work that goes on at Orchard Manor School. The range of opportunities offered to our pupils is second to none.

Having been a teacher all my life, I couldn’t resist setting the Rotarians a task to begin the evening. I explained some of the background of the school and our admissions policy and I asked the group to think about what they would expect and want to find on the curriculum, if we were to serve our pupils in the best possible way and prepare them for the future.

At the end of the evening I collated all of their comments and suggestions and I was absolutely delighted to find that their expectations were exactly synonymous with our newly developed and enhanced curriculum. That’s inspiring and confidence building. I attach their comments for your examination.

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Thoughts from our Community 

What should find a place on our curriculum?   Individual contributions from Dawlish Water Rotary Club. 

Preparation for future life: 

• Basic literacy and Numeracy skills. Practising for job interviews, form filling, financial awareness, increasing confidence in using cash to purchase goods, basic cooking skills and household skills, developing horticultural skills. 

Relaxation awareness: 

• Movement and Dance, Drama, Hydrotherapy, Enjoyment of Outdoor Activities, opportunities to see all the wild- life and geology of our immediate vicinity by taking boat trips out from Teignmouth in suitable weather conditions.  

   

Increasing self- esteem: 

• Interaction with a range of adults, increasing communication confidence. 
• PSHE, Availability of 1:1 Counselling, Residential experiences, learning about a healthy lifestyle and personal fitness. 

Increasing self-confidence 

• Learning to recognise and deal with a range of emotions, increasing self- confidence and self- respect. 
• Pupils accepting responsibility for themselves and developing an awareness of how to keep safe. 
• Development of some of the IT skills needed in our modern and changing world. Keeping safe on the internet. Choosing suitable reading materials. Developing awareness of ‘false information’. 
• An awareness of socially appropriate behaviour, so that confidence grows in any social situation. Some awareness of strategies to help avoid any vulnerabilities being exploited.  
• Lots of praise for any small success and an awareness that it is always possible to learn from failures. Developing personal interests (for example, Photography) that occupy rest and relaxation time.