‘Lessons Learned’ from introducing universal strategies designed to support the motor and functional skills of Reception and Year 1 children in a sample of primary schools in South East England

Abstract

This article describes an evaluation of universal resources designed to support motor development in Reception and Year 1 children. Four schools (Year R–Year 6) in the South East of England, three with high numbers of disadvantaged children participated. Senior leadership influenced take up of the initiative. Health and well-being practitioners and occupational therapy students contributed to ‘roll out’ of the resources with support provided by the authors over 12 weeks. Interview and focus group data from participating staff were gathered alongside examples of schoolwork from pupils. School staff needed access to support when incorporating universal strategies. The initiative contributed to schools working towards Healthy Schools targets. At the end of 12 weeks, improvements in children's sitting position, handwriting and lunchtime skills were noted, warranting further exploration of this approach to address the needs of children with poor motor skills at school entry.

Keywords:

• Reception and Year 1 children
• occupational therapy
• specialist teaching
• ‘Healthy Schools’
• motor development
• lunchtime
• sitting
• handwriting
• school readiness
• universal provision

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the teaching and support staff from the four schools that participated in the study. Thanks also to Gemma Bates, Suzanne Martin and Karina Dancza from Canterbury Christ Church University and Jennifer Holland, and Linda Warren Dean from East Kent Healthy Schools’ team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from Kent County Council Standards Fund (July 2010–2011) and a Teaching Development Agency for Schools award (TDA/SEN) Reference Number: G03046. Grant title: ITT Research and Development Award.

Notes

1 ICAN, http://www.ican.org.uk.

2 Early Intervention Foundation, http://www.eif.org.uk/

3 World Health Organisation, http://www.who.int/school_youth_health/gshi/hps/en/