Our school offer
Our aim is to provide pupils with a range of opportunities so that they can reach their full potential.
Key stages & education
Pupils in Key Stages 3 and 4 attend Greenholm School and in Key Stage 5, students progress on to our Strawberry Lodge Campus.
We provide a broad and balanced curriculum with opportunities for enrichment activities through educational visits and field trips. We put an emphasis on pupils developing independent living and vocational skills whilst developing communication and social skills.
We use a child-centred, cross-curricular approach that is delivered entirely through multi-sensory teaching strategies. The national curriculum is highly personalised and broken down into manageable steps.
We believe in encouraging pupils' self-esteem, which is often low when they start with us, by ensuring that the curriculum and tasks that are set are challenging yet achievable, thus enabling them to succeed further and develop.
Find out what makes our school unique
We provide unique 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.
We carve out opportunities for pupils to develop skills in preparation for the world of work through the Tuck Shop, Enterprise Bakery and professional level work experience in our kitchen. Each offers a different opportunity to develop functional skills and provides young people with the chance to progress in a safe environment and grow in confidence, further adding to their toolkit in preparation for the world of work.
The Tuck Shop provides the opportunity to deliver and develop customer service skills through interacting with buyers and suppliers, kindling an entrepreneurial spirit while organising inventory and working as part of a team.
Another established enterprise is our Bakery, managed by a professional chef. This reflects ‘real life’ as pupils interested in working here fill out an application form, take part in an interview and, if successful, undertake a health and safety induction. The clear roles and responsibilities enable pupils to become confident in a working kitchen, producing high-quality products sold to staff and the local community.
In addition to this, the school’s catering team offer work experience opportunities, where pupils can get to work in a busy environment with professional equipment and expectations, all whilst preparing varied and healthy foods for staff and their peers. As they navigate the different roles in the kitchen, they also develop a can-do approach and are taught to recognise their own skills and strengths.
Introducing pupils to a wide range of sports is important to us. Participating in new and exciting activities enable them to take calculated risks that empowers them, resulting in increased confidence, interest and intrigue for the next challenge that comes their way.
We have close links to a local tennis club and gym and seek out adventurous trips as part of enrichment, including:
- Archery
- Climbing
- Horse riding
- Bushcraft
- Water sports
Working together, they tackle tasks, and pupils go on to develop skills that are easily transferable into many aspects of their lives, including the classroom.
Music plays a big part in our school community with the help of our full time professional musician, who captures the attention of pupils, resulting in them engaging and developing a real passion for the subject.
The music ignites the development and skills for learning. It builds confidence as pupils perform to an audience, whether it be teachers or wider members of our school community during celebration events. It also requires motivation, determination and perseverance as well as self-discipline and good time management. In the sessions, they work collaboratively, developing teamwork and communication skills as well as being creative and having attention to detail.
The culmination of all of the above results in pupils gaining high grades in a variety of musical instruments, and they go on to achieve formal qualifications resulting in a high number of pupils progressing to study music with the aim to go into the industry.
Strawberry Lodge Campus
To further increase the opportunities and successful outcomes for our post 16 students, we have Strawberry Lodge Campus, located on its own grounds, where they access core subjects and courses ranging from Entry Level to Functional Skills, BTECs as well as GCSEs.
Students can also complete specialist courses at a partner college with the support of their Learning and Job Coaches, who attend sessions with them so that they can access subjects with someone who is familiar with their needs.
Leisure and enrichment time is timetabled, with a focus on building independence through travel exercises, exploring financial planning, and open discussions about mental health. Integrated into their timetable is a weekly ‘Time to Talk’ session, where students can talk to dedicated mentors freely and share any anxieties, discuss their aspirations and explore their identities.
Another focus, and something we strongly believe in, is providing our students with the opportunity to experience the world of work through our work experience programme. They experience working in a range of industries, which provides students with the opportunity to plan ahead and carve out a future for themselves in an area of interest.
We actively work on developing partnerships with local businesses so that a range of industries are on offer to students. The opportunity to experience the work environment provides them with the chance to develop their interpersonal skills, as well as instilling a sense of ambition and work ethic. This, coupled with our approach to developing their social and emotional skills sets them up in becoming confident and resilient members of both the school and their local communities.
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 each 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 ensure 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.
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