Children's Handbook
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Cedar House School
Our school offer
Our aim is to provide pupils with a range of opportunities so that they can reach their full potential.
Independent specialist boarding offer
For some young people with special educational needs a residential boarding placement can offer the right balance of education, support and stability that will then allow them to make rapid academic progress and develop socially.
The young person will attend the school as a day pupil, benefiting from the expertise and support we offer whilst the residential offer provides a warm and welcoming environment that allows for the development of positive relationships with peers and adults. The dedicated staff team create a family atmosphere where shared experiences provide opportunities for personal development and a sense of belonging.
Our young people live in our boarding houses and return to their home setting on a weekly, fortnightly or termly basis.
Our strong ethos and co-ordinated approach sees school and boarding staff work closely with parents and carers to enable each child or young person to develop into confident, independent and ambitious young adults.
The approach has a strong focus on enriching each young person’s social and communication skills which enables them to make friends, engage in new activities and experiences, and move forward with an ambition to discover and learn. The school and boarding staff teams both support and positively challenge each young person to widen their scope of life experiences and encourage them to experiment and undertake fresh challenge, which ultimately results in them improving their knowledge, skills and ability. Every pupil is guided by experienced and empathetic professionals who will be able to plan and adapt to ensure pupils achieve and succeed.
We aim to provide pupils with opportunities so that they can reach milestones in education and make progress with their emotional wellbeing and social development. The teaching, support and clinical staff team at Cedar House are an integral part of reaching this aim, as the expertise and drive of our professionals ensure pupils access a range of programmes so that they can flourish and enjoy learning in our inspiring environment.
Key stages & education
Pupils in Key Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 attend Cedar House School and follow the national curriculum.
We provide a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities for enrichment activities through educational visits and field trips.
We believe in encouraging pupils’ self-esteem, which is often low when they start with us, by ensuring the curriculum and tasks set are challenging yet achievable, thus enabling them to further succeed and develop.
Find out what makes our school unique
We provide unique learning opportunities for our pupils to help them engage with learning so that they can develop skills and grow in confidence to become proud members of our school community.
Pupils who are identified as needing additional emotional and social support have the opportunity to attend the school’s Nurture Group.
The dedicated classroom is managed by the school’s specialist teacher in autism and supported by highly trained teaching assistants who work collaboratively with the SEN Co-ordinator, Speech & Language Therapist and Occupational Therapist.
The team of experts provide combined input, ensuring that the needs and sensory diets of pupils are catered for so that they can self-regulate, resulting in pupils making progress socially and emotionally.
The carefully structured setting steadily helps our pupils to transition back into their class and the time spent in the nurture group allows them to rejoin their peers with confidence.
The strong sense of community of our Lower School helps with the development of positive relationships with peers, teaching and support staff that subsequently allows pupils to grow in confidence in a safe space where they feel accepted.
The Lower School is staffed by an established and highly experienced team, enabling each child to fully access the curriculum and benefit from opportunities for enrichment. The close relationship between the school’s therapy team and teaching staff, where they work in partnership within a classroom environment, sees the delivery of occupational therapy and speech and language therapy becoming far more individualised and focused on each pupil’s needs.
The Lower School offer includes:
Specialist Teacher and Teaching Assistant in each class
Communication development programmes
High consideration of sensory needs and appropriate equipment and support
Emphasis on developing resilience and self confidence in all areas
Ethos to ensure each pupil develops enthusiasm and a passion for learning
Engaging, vibrant classrooms
Highly resourced ICT provision and interactive learning resources
The school’s vocational offer enhances the teaching and learning experience of our pupils studying at Key Stage 4, by providing opportunities that equips them with vocational skills for life. A wide range of courses and accreditations present experiences and opportunities that will assist them in life beyond school and in future employment.
The highly equipped areas are taught by teachers who have industry experience, allowing our pupils to gain real insights and resulting in them having high levels of confidence, independence and enthusiasm to succeed in their chosen next steps. The offer also allows for increased levels of positive engagement between pupils and staff, thus resulting in raised aspirations and career goals.
The vocational offer includes the following subjects:
Hair and Beauty – the onsite working salon offer appointments for nails, hair and facials
Child Development
Health and Social Care
Construction
Horticulture
Land Based Studies
Catering and Hospitality
Pupils at Key Stage 3 can enjoy taster sessions so that they too can start planning for their future careers.
In addition, our rural location enables easy access to areas for outdoor pursuits, environmental studies and conservation work. We also have a Small Animal Care area that supports land based studies programme and a polytunnel for pupils to cultivate produce.
Pupils that require additional support in Literacy, Numeracy and social skills are referred to the Hub by their class teacher.
The school’s SEN co-ordinator carries out an assessment that determines the level of support required and then designs and implements a programme to meet individual needs, with the aim of reducing the gap in learning. This programme has been particularly successful with pupils working towards their GCSEs as it focuses on areas of development in a highly personalised way.
The Hub can be used during the school day. Pupils are able to:
- Build skills
- Access personalised learning that is integrated into the school day
- Build a rapport on a 1:1 basis, making it easier to access learning
- Return to class to apply skills and subsequently work towards qualifications
Futures
Whether our children or young people want to be an astronaut or an artist or anything in between, we are completely committed to helping them realise futures that are out of this world.
Developed in complete collaboration with schools, employers and young people, Futures is all about delivering unlimited aspiration and endless opportunity for every child.
Trust us when we say, your child’s future truly matters to us too.
Our therapeutic support
We provide young people with unrivalled levels of therapeutic support, both in terms of the expertise and experience of our in-school staff and the wide range of therapies offered.
Our therapeutic approach includes:
- As required, young people have the support of our Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists.
- Our commitment to delivering outstanding therapeutic support to all young people is based on attachment principles. We believe that unless a young person is able to feel emotionally secure they are less likely to fulfil their personal, social and educational potential.
- Our unique approach to supporting young people allows us to achieve uniquely outstanding outcomes, which in turn enable our young people to go on to realise a future filled with aspiration and achievement.
Our commitment to therapeutic support
We have an extensive Clinical Team, who are able to offer our young people within our school a truly personalised and comprehensive package of therapeutic support.
- We will ensure that every young person develops resilience and releases their potential by providing the appropriate clinical support for their social, emotional and mental health needs.
- We will support a young person to develop their competencies and abilities to help them become a capable young adult.
- We will completely integrate the delivery of therapeutic support.
- We will operate a direct delivery model of therapy offering universal services targeted to the needs of individual children and young people.
Staffing and pastoral care
Our staff have a wealth of experience and qualifications in teaching and caring for pupils with Special Educational Needs. They have also received training from Witherslack Group’s Clinical Team, which includes clinical psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and therapists.
Teachers and teaching assistants are extremely well equipped in providing appropriate support to meet the needs of our pupils and establish a positive and engaging learning environment. The education staff consists of a stable and experienced team and the professional development of teachers and teaching assistants is supported through regular internal and external training. This ensures extremely effective teaching practices are in place and lesson activities are well-planned to support learning.
The Pastoral Care Team develop excellent links with parents, carers and families, as well as professionals involved with a pupil. They also provide additional support, when required, to help pupils engage in classes.
We are dedicated to the development of the young person, focusing on areas such as independence, self-esteem, resilience, making safe choices and communication.
All this support allows each child, whatever their needs, the opportunity to engage and enjoy their education.
The Pastoral Care Team ensures that all pupils’ well-being is constantly reviewed and developed, and that strong links are made between school and home.
Make an enquiry
Whether you are interested in your child attending our school or just want to know more information about our offer, contact our team.
Contact us