Children with disabilities are getting the best possible support to move around at Fairwater High School. The school now has four practitioners who have the skills to get children to improve their physical skills while having lessons.

MOVE is programme that teaches pupils to become independent through the four skills of: Sitting, Standing, Walking and Transferring.

Nicola Fanthorpe, Tracy Bowyer, Mariya Gwinnell and Gemma Webster took a training course in Newport.

Gemma said: “It starts by talking to the pupil and parents about where they are and what targets they want to achieve. So for example, one pupil wants to be able to get up the ramps to the top school all on his own by the end of the year.

“We use a passport to record where the pupil wants to achieve and the stages that need to be achieved to get there. Each aim has several steps and we plan how these can be integrated into the normal school during lessons.

“That’s the key to MOVE. The framework that we put in place to help the pupil reach their goals are often activities that can be done while learning, not separate to learning.

“Pupils who use walking frames don’t sit down during lessons. We work so they spend part of the time learning on their feet and supported.

“At the launch of MOVE we had John Harris, the paralympian, come along to meet pupils. He was fantastic and talked to pupils about their progress. What an inspiration.

“He wants to arrange for some pupils to go to Cardiff and watch the Wales athletes train to show them what is possible. Later this year we hope to hold a sports day involving both mainstream pupils and pupils on the MOVE programme.”

Fairwater High School is fully Disability Discrimination Act compliant with lifts and ramps.

Visit the MOVE Partnership website for more information.