The Meadow - School Based Provision 

At Alexander McLeod, we are committed to ensuring every child can access learning, feel secure, and achieve their full potential. For some of our pupils, this requires highly tailored support within a calm and communication-rich environment. The Meadow is our specialist resource provision designed to meet the needs of children with significant delays in social communication, functional language and/or global developmental skills.

Thank you so much for allowing us to visit both provisions – we were both delighted to see how calm and happy the children were (every single one of them)! Thanks again for yesterday. To echo Minna’s words, it was wonderful to see all the provision children happy, well supported and engaged with their learning. ASD Outreach 

Our first specialist class—formerly known as Pear Class—opened in February 2019 in response to pupils who found mainstream teaching extremely difficult due to substantial delays in communication and language. Some children also had diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder or Global Developmental Delay.

As the needs of our community evolved, particularly with more pupils joining the school who were non-verbal or had very limited functional communication, we expanded our provision to two classrooms, Blossom and Clover, and later developed The Meadow.

The Meadow supports children with a range of complex needs in a nurturing, low-arousal environment. Our approach is grounded in:

• Developing functional communication, including early language, attention and interaction skills

• Strengthening social communication, such as turn-taking, joint attention, and shared play

• Building executive functioning skills, including routine, organisation, engagement and regulation

• Preparing children for successful integration into their mainstream class where appropriate

Pupils benefit from a high staff-to-pupil ratio, specialist teaching from an autism practitioner, structured daily routines, sensory regulation opportunities and ongoing assessment. We work closely with external agencies—including Speech and Language Therapists and other professionals—to ensure every child receives highly individualised support.

Parental partnership is central to our work. Families receive daily communication and attend regular review meetings so we can celebrate progress and plan next steps together.

Recently the Meadow provision has been set up for pupils who are currently non-verbal with ASCs. The provision is led by an autism specialist teacher. Environments are low arousal with focused communication invitations and information. Due to developing routines and structures with well deployed staff, pupils are settled and engaged purposefully. A pupil completed his task independently and smiled warmly in recognition of his achievement. Challenge Partners review 2024

Alexander McLeod Primary School takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Meeting a pupil’s intimate care needs is one part of this responsibility. Our Intimate Care Policy provides clear guidance to ensure children are always supported safely, respectfully and with dignity.
No child is ever attended to in a way that causes distress, embarrassment or discomfort.

Parents and carers can read the full policy below.

The Meadow policyThe Meadow - Newsletter Autumn Term 1

Intimate Care Policy 2024-2025

Meet the Lead

  At Alexander McLeod, we strongly believe that it is the role of our educators to adapt the provision to ensure that every child’s individual needs are met and that they can achieve success.  Staff in the Meadow work together with outside agencies to ensure that they are clear about all children’s starting points and future goals.  The aim is for pupils to develop their language and social communication skills in The Meadow to a level where they can transfer these to their mainstream class.