At Woodlands Primary School we use Makaton to aid our learners who need additional support with language and communication.

Makaton is a child-friendly form of sign language communication and is used alongside the spoken word as well as picture cards. You may already know a littloe Makaton if your child enjoys watching Justin Fletcher on CBeebies!  Makaton is not just for children with SEND  - many children, including those for whom English is an additional language, really benefit from the use of Makaton as part of their toolkit for communication.

At Woodlands Primary School we have found that using Makaton gives our children the confidence to communicate their physical and emotional needs, their feelings and their knowledge and understanding in lessons.

In Early Years, the staff have had Makaton training in order to support language development. We teach Makaton to our youngest children and do this across the curriculum. You will see children use Makaton during registration, in maths and when retelling stories.

Makaton is also a key teaching tool in our Knowledge for Life classroom and our Treehouse learners are absolutely brilliant at using Makaton to support them throughout the school day.