Non Public Primary School in Inowrocław, Poland

Our school is a Non Public Primary School in Inowrocław, Poland and currently we have 187 students. Most of our students have a Polish ‘Disability Degree Certificate’. Our students have many different diagnoses ranging from mild to complex needs. The vast majority of our students have Asperger's Syndrome. The school follows an integration/inclusive model and all our students work together. Currently, we have a high volume of students who would like to attend our school but due to the current size of our building and our staffing, we are not able to accept more students.

Our classes are quite diverse. Some classes have students with and without additional needs, but we also have a small number of classes with only two to four students per class for children with more complex needs. What’s most important is the inclusive ethos of our school. All our students are respectful of each other and play and work together. In fact everyone in our school community has a great sense of empathy towards each other and our students in particular all interact and motivate each other. Many times our students will naturally help each other out without being asked to do so by staff.

Many of our students have had many problems in their ‘initial’ schools. But when they are here with us they start to change. Why? We often wonder this ourselves. We think that maybe it’s our small classes or maybe they feel noticed with us. We are also very sensitive to any behavior - both positive and negative. In the case of the latter, before the final reprimand, we try to explain the reason with the child. Their reactions are amazing - first, they are surprised that instead of a reprimand there is a conversation and they are to give reasons for their behavior. Sounds weird? Most often here in Poland a school's reaction ito ‘bad behaviour’ is to be highly critical (we also disapprove of bad behaviour, but before we start to criticize we try to what instigated it. After we have discussed an incident it can go a few ways, however many times it turns out that the cause of ‘bad behavior’ are stimuli to which the child is hypersensitive. So why hurt them again by punishing them? In such situations, we minimize the negative factors. Of course, we monitor the further course of behavior.