- Individual support plans and close working with parents ensures pupils achieve academically.
- Ofsted has praised the schools work and it recently received a sector award for its high ambitions for pupils.
ACTION
Communication is a primary need in Pontville School's admissions criteria and underpins everything they do, from the first 12 weeks of a pupil's journey, when detailed assessments are made, to their very last day at the school.
The co-educational independent special school in Ormskirk, Lancashire provides day and year-round residential provision for children and young people aged five to 19 with a range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including Asperger's syndrome, autism, semantic pragmatic disorder and speech and language impairment.
Tackling each half term individually, Pontville's team of speech and language therapists (SLTs) and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education co-ordinator collaborate to create a school-wide plan for communications. Their plan is then incorporated across all subject areas. Alongside this, pupils attend weekly SLT sessions with a therapist, and practice a range of communication skills in a special timetabled lesson with their teachers.
All pupils access speech and language therapy and individualised programmes, which are integrated within the curriculum, to address the specific therapeutic, care and behaviour needs associated with communication impairments. The specialist provision aims to remove the barriers to achievement to help young people succeed.
In addition, new staff members undertake a six-week training course delivered by clinical services teams, and all staff receive regular top-up training from SLTs. The SLTs themselves are also supported to undertake higher-level professional qualifications.
The school has a pupil-centred ethos - staff spend time finding out what a child enjoys so that what they are interested in is integrated in their learning experience. This along with other needs feature in their Individual Care and Education Plans, which set targets to address areas for development.
All children have a support plan which they contribute towards, which identifies the level of pastoral support they might require and in what circumstances. Pupils who exhibit social, emotional, psychological or behavioural difficulties are provided with support, where necessary, from the teaching and support staff and from their pastoral care team, who are based outside of the classroom and are dedicated to ensuring that our pupils feel safe, settled, calm and ready to learn.
It also works with families, particularly to develop bespoke approaches to speech, language and communication including a siblings group, home communication programmes, and parent/pupil target reviews. There are also daily home-school diaries, post admission review and annual reviews to help facilitate this.
The school is part of specialist education and care provider the Witherslack Group, which has multiple settings across the UK. One of the benefits of being part of a larger group includes sharing clinical services and SLT.
IMPACT
In its latest Ofsted report, the inspectorate judged Pontville as "outstanding", while the National Autistic Society recently commended the school's strong collegiate approach across education, care, and therapy teams.
Earlier this year, Pontville was named SEN School/Group of the Year at the Shine a Light Awards. Awards judge Teresa Redmond, lead professional adviser at The Communication Trust, highlighted the measurable evidence and impact the school had shown, and pinpointed its "holistic approach". Fellow judge Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, praised staff for "encouraging students to dream big".
Justine Sims, head teacher at Pontville School, said: "This award recognises the fantastic teamwork and expertise of our education, clinical and care staff who demonstrate great dedication and their expertise ensures that students thrive and flourish.
"Speech and language is embedded throughout every element of the school and we ensure that the needs of our children and young people are at the heart of our work."
Meanwhile, this year saw the school report its best ever academic results with 66 GCSE qualifications achieved. Of this group, 27 were at a grade 4 or above with 14 of these GCSEs at grades 5/6.
