Aurora Vincent House prepares for ‘babies’ arrival to support student learning

The 'babies' will provide the school’s Child Development students with a hands-on experience of the challenges and care required to support an infant’s development.

The idea was the brainchild of Lacy Johnson, who strongly believes in the value of infant simulators in teaching Cambridge Nationals Child Development (Levels 1 & 2) to the school’s young learners, as well as giving them an insight into parenthood.

With support from Aurora, the school has been able to bring this exciting initiative to life.

Abbie Simmonds, Deputy Head at Aurora Vincent House, said: “We’re very grateful for the support we’ve received because, without it, we wouldn’t have been able to realise this initiative. We have a wonderful group of young learners who are interested in both child development as a career and having children of their own in the future.

“Alongside their more obvious use for child development, we want to build this into our life skills curriculum and PSHE curriculum so that our young people gain a deeper understanding of parenthood and what all that means in a very real way.

“It will give our young people an immersive experience. It's fine to teach the theory of child development, but this gives our young people, who may have sensory difficulties or a low resilience to discomfort, a hands-on experience of childcare.

“The ‘babies’ will give our students the real experience of physically delivering childcare so that when they apply for work experience or apprenticeships, they’ll have had a lived experience of it.”

Aurora Vincent House in West Sussex is a brand-new specialist education provision with a focus on emotional wellbeing, offering therapeutic support in a nurturing environment for young autistic people aged 11 to 16.