The National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham is staffed by 'conductors' - specialists trained in all aspects of children's education, rather than by a combination of teachers, therapists and assistants.
The school has 19 children aged three to 11 on its roll, having a range of motor disorders including cerebral palsy and dyspraxia.
Inspectors said, 'At the heart of the work of the school is the expectation of pupils to gain greater mobility and independence as well as academic achievement. This is achieved by skilfully integrating the national curriculum with the conductive curriculum.'
Conductive education was first developed by Hungarian physicist Andras Peto and introduced to the UK 18 years ago. Some of the staff at the Institute trained at the Peto Institute in Budapest; others are graduates from the institute's conductor training school run in partnership with Wolverhampton University.
Headteacher Wendy Baker said, 'What is really gratifying is that the inspectors judged us for what we are doing - conductive education with the concerns and aims of the English education system fully integrated within it.'
Andrew Sutton, director of the Foundation for Conductive Education, which helps to promote it worldwide, said, 'That such excellent results can be successfully achieved by a single professional, the conductor, in the complex situation of physical disability, is particularly significant in view of the Government's "joined-up" agenda for children's services.'
and its hopes to rationalise the children's workforce. The conductor is the ultimate "joined-up" professional.'
