Education Today Education Today Magazine
Queen Margaret Academy in Ayr is the first secondary school in Scotland to be awarded the prestigious ADHD Friendly School award by the ADHD Foundation for their work with young people with ADHD in the last academic year. Queen Margaret has shown their dedication and commitment to supporting the needs of all pupils in their school which has led to this fantastic achievement.
Queen Margaret Academy has considered all of the main barriers to learning for young people with ADHD and has sought to address them in their everyday practice. This includes giving pupils ample opportunity for movement and exercise, as well as the use of a variety of tactile resources as a tool to support young people in regulating their attention. A plethora of resources can be found in their ‘Nurture Room’ which is also used to support pupils to regulate their emotions, something which, if not considered, can also be a barrier to learning for those with ADHD. In addition to this, young people at Queen Margaret have also been taught self-soothing strategies such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation as a form of emotional regulation.
Celebrating neurodiversity and de-stigmatising neurodiverse conditions was a key feature of the submission for the award and the team at Queen Margaret Academy have done a wonderful job of this. An inspiring animation, which focuses on the ADHD ‘superpowers’, was created and shared with the young people at the school. These superpowers reflected some of the positive traits of ADHD such as quick-thinking and intuition. As well as this animation, neurodivergent pupils also contributed to a display which explains and celebrates ADHD and stands proudly in the hallway.
In addition, Queen Margaret Academy has provided support and information for parents of neurodiverse pupils in the form of online information sessions. This has enabled parents to learn more about their child’s condition, as well as share their own experiences and knowledge.
Anna Roche, Teacher from Queen Margaret Academy said, “It has been a wonderful experience making the school a more accepting and understanding place for our young people to learn in. The pupils that take part in my ADHD support group have gained confidence in themselves and an insight into their condition that they may never have had. Seeing pupils thrive and having positive conversations with parents due to the work we have done is an honour and a privilege, and the ADHD Foundation have helped with every step of the way. Queen Margaret Academy is so excited to be the first secondary school in Scotland to achieve the award and we encourage anyone thinking about it to do it too!”.
Colin Foley, the training director of the ADHD Foundation said, “Working with Queen Margaret Academy has been a pleasure. The team are absolutely dedicated to achieving success for young people with ADHD and they fully deserve this recognition for their achievements. It is my pleasure to say that they are the first secondary in Scotland to achieve this.”
The ADHD Foundation, based in Liverpool, works in partnership with individuals, families, doctors, teachers and other agencies to improving emotional well-being, educational attainment, behaviour and life chances through better understanding and self-management of ADHD, ASD and related learning difficulties.