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The Warriner School

Communication Interaction Resource Base (CIRB)

The CIRB Team

Lead Teacher in CIRB

Kamila Paris

The Team

Joanne Turner, CIRB Teacher

Dawn Round, Admin Assistant

Joanne Beachey, Teaching Assistant 

Marleen Bussink, Teaching Assistant

Kate Davies, Teaching Assistant

Carolyn Heather, Teaching Assistant

Emma Lyons, Lead Teaching Assistant

Sharini Mirza, Teaching Assistant

Jessica Phillips-Holmes, Teaching Assistant

Melissa Wyatt, Teaching Assistant

 

Integral to the school is a specialist Communication and Interaction Resource Base (CIRB) run by the local authority SEN Support Services, (SENSS). The base is primarily designed to support pupils with communication and interaction needs. Most of our pupils have a primary diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC), in addition to other associated difficulties.

The base is staffed by two specialist teachers, a mixture of specialist full and part-time teaching assistants and a Speech and Language therapist. Places on the base are allocated through a centralised local authority admissions panel. Pupils need to have an EHC plan to be considered for a place.

The main role of the staff on the CIRB is to enable academic and social inclusion for the pupils.  Levels of academic inclusion vary according to the individual’s needs, although the minimum expectation is 30%.  

All pupils have an individual and differentiated timetable, designed to reflect their needs and abilities. Staff from the base will support our pupils in the mainstream environment, helping to present work in an autism friendly format and working closely with mainstream colleagues to ensure that successful outcomes can be achieved.

The CIRB is run as a therapeutic and proactive environment. Whilst working with pupils on the CIRB, staff will deliver a range of interventions to the pupils. These include classes in Social Thinking, Life Skills, Sensory Experiences, Mindfulness and support with homework. The Warriner School has a farm, which our pupils enjoy visiting for outdoor learning sessions. We also have a member of staff who is qualified to deliver Forest School sessions in the woodland attached to the school. The pupils benefit enormously from this flexible approach to learning.

We have a strong focus on helping the pupils to develop independence within school. We also actively encourage reverse integration, whereby mainstream pupils will be encouraged to spend some break times with our pupils on the base. This helps to develop social awareness and understanding from both parties.

Academic progress of the CIRB students is recorded, tracked and evaluated by mainstream staff team.  Social and emotional progress and levels of inclusion are monitored by the CIRB and this information is shared with members of the mainstream team. 

The base works very closely with parents around specific concerns and behaviour plans. We believe that close collaboration is vital to the well-being of the family as a whole.