The  Occupational Therapy team at Venture Academy work with students and the school team to help students to be ‘ready to learn’.   This may involve exploring with students their sensory preferences and needs, and then putting together some strategies that help maintain sensory regulation.  In addition, the Occupational Therapists can explore with students everyday activities at school that may need some support, such as handwriting, and advise on adaptions to the environment to maximise learning potential.   Occupational Therapists can offer advice to assist with managing transition between home and school, class to class and from school to college. The Occupational Therapy team are solution focused, suggesting different ways of doing things or tweaking the environment to maximise learning potential in school.

  Occupational Therapy can involve:

• Exercises and games - for example, learning an alternative technique to tie shoelaces or developing a functional handwriting grip,
• Devising a sensory plan/diet with activities to wake up and also to calm (getting ready to learn).
• Recommending specialised equipment - for example, helping with sitting posture, equipment to help sensory regulation to get ready to learn.
• Working out strategies to help, and ways they can be incorporated into daily life.
• Support, education and training for school staff and parents in ways to help.
• Supporting curriculum development to improve access to learning.

Hello, I’m Julie and I qualified as an Occupational Therapist from Coventry University in 1992. I have NHS and independent practice clinical experience in a number of Occupational Therapy practice areas, including working with children in school, young people at college and adults in the community.  I have spent time lecturing and researching at Coventry University and part of my teaching role has been to teach on an undergraduate Occupational Therapy module, which focuses on the role of the Occupational Therapist working with people with learning disabilities.  I have been part of the team at Venture Academy since 2023 and highly value the opportunity to work together with students and tutors to assist students with engagement in everyday school activities.