As part of our language development programme at Muirhead Primary and to provide a supportive and welcoming environment which is inclusive to all, we have introduced Makaton across our school. Makaton is a language programme designed to help hearing people with learning or communication difficulties. It uses signs and symbols, with speech, in spoken word order. It is not used as a substitute for speech but is used in conjunction with it.

The school have a Makaton group led by Mrs Bruce and p7 pupils Lauren and Vivien where Makaton is demonstrated to pupils using stories, songs and games. The group show signs of the week at assembly and on the school twitter account. They also have a school Makaton noticeboard which is regularly updated and there are signs throughout the school indicating our school values and various offices and staff. All parents were given a leaflet and are invited to assemblies where Makaton is consistently used as part of the pupils topic work. The group have also led a session at our local church for the senior citizens. The school were also lucky to receive an Oor Wullie statue as part of the Big Bucket Trail and this was decorated with Makaton signs.

For our commitment, we are delighted to have been awarded Makaton Friendly status by the Makaton charity. The Makaton Friendly scheme is designed to recognise organisations that currently use Makaton and that the people that use Makaton feel welcome and are enabled to access services within their community. We are currently the only mainstream primary school in Ayrshire to be awarded this status. More information can be found at www.makaton.org