Make a positive contribution
“ The school has worked hard to ensure that there is a range of mechanisms for all to contribute”
Cheshire County Council, Inclusion Quality Mark Accreditation Team,
May 2007
Social and emotional development
We regard progress in social and emotional development as one of the key tasks of the school, and this is reflected in our Missions Statement:-
“To Optimise Communication and Participation”.
We strive to ensure that our pupils, who very frequently display serious difficult-to-manage behaviour, can participate and be included in the life of their class, school, house and home community. Because of their level of need all pupils attending the school have 1:1 adult support, although this may be withdrawn on occasions if this is seen as likely to assist their development.
The school acknowledges the National Curriculum, but uses this only as a vehicle for delivering the targets for each pupils’ Individual Learning Programme (ILP). All such ILPs, which are shared with parents, will include a focus on individual social development.
Pupils spend the majority of each day with their class teacher and classroom team, which gives our staff a very good and detailed knowledge of each child, and provides a very supportive environment. Our residential pupils live in small houses scattered across our parkland campus, with care teams who equally know their charges very well.
Being part of the community
We strive very hard to be a visible part of our local community, and our children can frequently be found in the local supermarkets and parks etc. We have access to an extensive minibus fleet to support community access. We are currently in the process of renewing this fleet, and new vehicles are smaller buses and people carriers.
Our pupils attend an assembly in our local church on a termly basis. One of the benefits of this is that it enables us to give the children the experience of being in a large gathering in a community setting, to help them cope with such situations in the future.
Where children show an interest and have the ability we arrange for them to join in local activity groups such as Brownies, sports clubs, drama groups etc. Unfortunately, this now applies only to a minority of our young people.
We endeavour to see that each child has at least one residential experience whilst they are at the school, and some have far more. Small school parties spend weeks or part-weeks at Center Parcs, caravan sites, the Outdoor Centre of The Bendrigg Trust in Cumbria, in at our own caravans at Black Rock Sands in North Wales.
Making decisions
The school has a School Council, with elected representatives, who meet half-termly to discuss issues with senior school staff.
Making choices is a key skill for our young people, and is very frequently a target on their ILP.
Wherever possible we encourage each child to be present for at least part of their Statutory Annual Review. Where this is not appropriate, we arrange for photo-stories to be presented to give the flavour of the child’s life with us at the school.
Children helping other children
Wherever possible we encourage children to help other children and to help in group activities. We will encourage a current school pupil to act as a guide for a possible future pupil visiting us for the first time, if this is appropriate. The school has a weekly assembly on a Friday morning, and children are encouraged to take as much part in this as they feel able.
Supporting Charities
We endeavour to support all appropriate national charity days, such as “Red Nose Day”, “Jeans for Genes” and UNESCO’s “Day for Change”. These can help children develop some understanding of a life beyond the school, provide a new stimulus for a day’s schoolwork, and are also a lot of fun!
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme
The school residential team have supported this scheme for many years, and this can be made available for pupils who wish to take part and who will benefit.
