Sherwood Park Campus Local Offer

Name of School: Sherwood Park School - Sherwood Park Campus  

Address: Streeters Lane, Wallington, Surrey  

Postcode: SM6 7NP

Name of Contact: Jessica Bladwin (Head of School)  

Telephone: 0208 773 9930 

Email: parkoffice@sherwoodpark.org.uk  

Website: http://www.sherwoodpark.org.uk/  

 

Contact to Discuss Child Needs  

David Murden (Head Teacher)  

Jessica Baldwin (Head of School - Sherwood Park Campus)  

Lucyna Koczon (Assistant Head - Sherwood park Campus)  

Anna Richardson (Head of Strategy & Transdisciplinary Working)  

 

Referrals or requests for admission to Sherwood Park are undertaken by the Local Authority.  

 

Visits to school are warmly welcomed and contact can be made through telephoning our reception which is open from 8.00 - 16:00. There are 6 open mornings per year, alternatively, you can arrange a visit. There are no set times for visits; we will try to accommodate parents’ preferences wherever possible.  

 

About the School  

Sherwood Park School is an all age foundation special school, which consists of two campuses. Sherwood Park Campus in Wallington, which provides for pupils whose primary needs are profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and severe learning disabilities (SLD), some of whom are Autistic, aged 3-19 years. Sherwood Hill Campus in Carshalton, which provides for pupils aged 4-19 years where their Autism has a significant or profound impact on their learning and / or social and emotional skills, affecting their capacity to cope across daily activities. (Good rating: Ofsted, 2018)  

Sherwood Park School prides itself on its individualised, trans-disciplinary approach to learning; with the child / young person and their family at the heart of our practice. We are dedicated to using strengths based, relationship focused, developmentally appropriate, person-centred practices to support the learning and growth of our pupils (information on these can be found on our website). We aim to create a school culture and learning environment that facilitates the active engagement and participation of our learners, using motivating and meaningful activities that support the development of regulation, communication, social skills, cognitive abilities and life skills in preparation for adulthood.  

All learners attending the school have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which identifies the school as the most appropriate provision for the student. This also identifies the students primary needs, and where appropriate additional needs. We work hard to ensure the pupil and parent voice is captured effectively at annual reviews and transition reviews to ensure that the EHCP continues to reflect the student’s current strengths, aspirations, needs & requirements for provision. There is an exception for our nursery students on our Sherwood Park Campus who may start at our school prior to their EHCP being finalised.  

On our Sherwood Park Campus we have three pathways; two for learners with severe learning difficulties (SLD) where class sizes range from 6-10 learners; and one for learners with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) where class sizes are a maximum of 7 learners. We will have 11 classes (12 if we have a bulge class), the majority of which have mixed ages and are grouped by learning style and ability linked to their appropriate learning pathway. This ensures that our learners are working alongside a suitable peer group and are able to access the appropriate curriculum for their needs. This also ensures that their work is differentiated to enable sustained progress.

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

‘The Leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection’  

 

Supporting Children  

All staff at Sherwood Park School are supported to work within our LEARN ethos which embodies our values and vision to ensure best practice is achieved within our school every day:  

Listening and responding to the voices of everyone in our community and beyond

Enabling our learners and the whole school community to be the best they can be.

Accepting and celebrating individual differences and neurodiversity  

Respecting all in our community in all areas of their life and learning  

Nurturing individuals to develop autonomy and independence  

LEARNing is everywhere at Sherwood Park School  

All of our children have an Education Health and Care Plan and often have a number of dedicated professionals from multiple agencies working with them in order to support them to reach their potential.  

 

Our School Ethos - An Embedded Trans-disciplinary Offer  

This offer should be read in conjunction with the Sherwood Park teaching, wellbeing and therapy offers. Teachers and teaching staff at Sherwood Park School (Sherwood Park Campus and Sherwood Hill Campus) work with wellbeing and therapy staff in a trans-disciplinary way as an integral part of the school team to meet the provision requirements and outcomes of the EHCPs for all children and young people within the school. The transdisciplinary model of practice aims to provide more family-centred, coordinated, and integrated services to meet the complex needs of children with disabilities and their families. Transdisciplinary work seeks to develop holistic provisions by integrating different disciplinary perspectives, thereby creating new frameworks to understand problems for the purposes of developing more effective solutions.  

Our teaching team works together with the wellbeing and therapy staff at all levels of our school to enable a trans-disciplinary approach. This ensures that the people around the child/young person share skills, use consistent approaches and are equipped to effectively deliver the universal and targeted services described below. This also ensures the work of all disciplines is fully considered and embedded within the curriculum and day to day running of the school. This model of working enables specialist teaching, wellbeing and therapeutic interventions to be moved effectively to targeted and universal options in order that the team around the child can better support the individual. This also ensures continuous growth of the whole school community, enabling us to adapt alongside best-practice developments.  

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

‘Inspectors saw strong examples of therapy being integrated into lessons……...Strong leadership has ensured that additional therapies are integrated well into the curriculum and this is a clear strength of the school’  

 

Delivery of the School Offer - Three Tier Model  

The Sherwood Park teaching, wellbeing and therapy services team provides support based on the widely recognised three tier model (Gascoigne, 2006). This is provided alongside the school’s core teaching offer, given that every child within the school is already recognised as having a highly specialist level of need and requires specialist provision outlined in their Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) to varying degrees throughout their educational lives. This model is delivered within the context of a transdisciplinary approach and is described below.  

Levels of Provision

 

 

Assessing Children  

When our learners start with us at Sherwood Park School we complete a trans-disciplinary assessment within the first term. This involves collaborative working between teachers, parents/carers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and external agencies in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the learner’s strengths, individual differences and barriers to learning. From this baseline, the trans-disciplinary team works with the learner and their family to ensure that personalised, aspirational outcomes are set in the areas of cognition & learning; communication & interaction; social, emotional & mental health; and sensory & physical learning. On-going assessment takes place throughout the year. Outcomes are formally reviewed at the end of each key stage and at the learner’s annual review of their EHCP. The long term EHCP outcomes are broken down into personalised learning programmes (PLPs) which are reviewed and updated in collaboration with parents as part of our transdisciplinary assessment process at the end of each term for our learners on our SLD pathway and every 6 months for our learners on our PMLD pathway.  

Staff are skilled in observation and assessment which enables them to dynamically respond and adapt to small changes in the pupil’s ability, ensuring progress across all areas of the curriculum. This also allows for staff to follow the pupil’s strengths, interests and motivations in order to best support their engagement in learning. The Engagement Model is used to capture pupil engagement and encourages all staff to reflect on their practice and ensure that their pedagogy and use of affect is interesting, motivating and enjoyable for the pupil.  

Evidence for Learning is a secure online portfolio that allows teachers, wellbeing practitioners and therapists to document and reflect on pupils’ engagement, participation and progress, whilst also sharing these with families. This also allows practitioners to reflect on learning within the five key areas of need within our curriculum.  

Informing Parents and Carers  

We offer an open door policy and appointments can be made to meet with the class teacher, wellbeing practitioners, therapists or a member of the leadership team to discuss pupil progress, issues or concerns. We foster positive relationships and enhance communication through formal and informal methods:  

• Daily home/ school books  
• Information letters from the Head/ Senior Leaders via the website & Class Dojo 
  • School weekly newsletter  
• Use of Class Dojo app, Parent Mail and texts to inform parents and carers of news and day to day events  
• Face to face or virtual parent information events and training/ coaching workshops 
  • Formal progress review meetings take place termly with target sheets sent out at the beginning and end of each term.  
• Thorough reports are prepared for the Annual Review and Transition Reviews demonstrating progress towards EHCP outcomes. These are discussed with parents at the review. 
  • Parent co-production sessions with the school to discuss key issues/areas for development 
  • Coffee mornings and FOSPS events

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

‘Parents and carers told inspectors that ‘the Head and the staff work well with families and feel strongly supported’. Parents said that they are ‘very happy with the school and that you communicate effectively with them.’  

 

Updates on Progress  

The PLPs and pupil progress (within the curriculum and towards EHCP outcomes) are evaluated termly (6 monthly for our PMLD cohort) and discussed with parents/ carers at individual trans-disciplinary progress meetings during Parents Evenings. The learner is involved with these meetings where appropriate. The teaching, wellbeing and therapy team supports parents with what they can do to help their child to transfer their learning and development from the school to the home environment. Informal meetings and telephone contact can be made at the convenience of staff (teaching staff, wellbeing practitioners and therapists) and parents.  

A key focus of our curriculum is to provide learning experiences that will develop the whole child / young person to be as independent as possible, gain skills and knowledge that will prepare them for adulthood and an enriching life.  

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

Parents said that ‘pupils make strong progress both academically and emotionally’  

 

If a Child is not Making Progress  

Regular trans-disciplinary monitoring and evaluation takes place on a half termly basis in order to review the effectiveness of every learner’s plan. This is reviewed collaboratively by our teaching, wellbeing and therapy wider leaders on a termly basis and yearly at the annual review for assurance purposes. If a learner is not making expected progress in any given area their teaching, therapy and well-being provision is reviewed and more targeted or specialist programmes and interventions are put into place in a timely way. This ensures that the learners' individual differences are effectively accommodated and that the approaches and interventions used and levels of support in place enable them to close knowledge gaps and achieve their potential. This can include increased well-being and therapy provision as well as increased teaching support. It is always our aim to reduce provision when a learner can cope with less intensive interventions and levels of support.  

Curriculum  

We believe that children learn best when they enjoy and value coming into school and participate in an exciting, practical and meaningful curriculum. Lessons and activities are planned to give children new experiences and to help them embed learning through hands-on approaches.  

A key focus of our curriculum is to provide learning experiences that will develop the whole child / young person to be as autonomous and independent as possible, gain skills and knowledge that will prepare them for adulthood and an enriching life.  

For our learners with PMLD, teaching focuses on experiential learning through rich sensory activities, with high levels of intensive interaction. Teaching is delivered in small groups, pairs and through 1:1 activities. Our learners with PMLD access the following curriculums depending on their age and level of ability:  

• The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum  
• Equals Pre-Formal and/ or Informal Curriculum depending on their level of ability
  • Post 16 Curriculum in addition to continuing aspects of the Equals curriculums above  
• For learners with SLD, traditional SLD teaching approaches are used, with a mixture of circle time, group work & 1:1 learning. Our pupils with SLD access the following curriculums depending on their age and level of ability:  
• The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum  
• Equals Informal, Semi-Formal &/ or Formal Curriculum depending on their level of ability
  • Post 16 Curriculum  

Well-being and therapy support varies for our PLMD & SLD cohort but is fully embedded in the curriculum & learning and within the curriculum offered. Our education funded therapy team (in association with Cognus Therapies) and our NHS commissioned therapy and nursing team are based on site and work in collaboration with teaching staff and parents to ensure best outcomes.  

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

That ‘pupils said that they enjoy coming to school and are happy’ and that ‘relationships between pupils and staff are strong’.  

The school has ‘recently introduced new curriculum models to meet the needs of the different cohorts of pupils within the school and to further facilitate a more personalised approach’. They specified that ‘strong leadership has ensured that additional therapies are integrated well into the curriculum and this is a clear strength of the school’. ‘Leaders evaluate teaching and learning accurately and understand that pupils make the best progress when teachers plan lessons that are matched precisely to pupils’ individual needs’.  

Adapting for Child Needs  

As a trans-dicsiplinary team we pay close attention to each learner’s strengths, individual differences and barriers to learning in order to provide appropriate individualised universal, targeted and specialist support for all of our pupils. Learners are placed on the appropriate pathway and then grouped according to their abilities and needs. An individual learning plan is developed collaboratively by our team, which includes the teacher, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and support staff. All staff are experienced in using appropriate specialist teaching and therapeutic approaches for pupils with PMLD & SLD. Therapists are based on site and work in a fully integrated way with children, parents, class teachers, learning support assistants and external professionals to provide an embedded, holistic therapeutic approach to learning. Our aim is to enable the child to achieve highly individualised outcomes that are focused around leading full and happy lives, realising potential and becoming valued members of their community. This is achieved through therapists and wellbeing practitioners working together with families and teaching staff to embed therapy outcomes and interventions into meaningful, functional activities within the home, community and school environments. A huge amount of consideration is also placed on adapting our environment, activities and supports to meet the needs of our pupils.   

Staff Flexibility on Needs  

All staff receive training in the school’s child centred, trans-disciplinary approach to learning as part of their induction package. Regular training and a tiered continuous professional development plan for school leaders, teaching staff, wellbeing practitioners and therapists ensures that every member of staff continues to develop their skills in using a range of specialist interventions and approaches. This enables them to effectively develop and adapt the highly individualised provision maps of each learner throughout their time in the school.  

Additional Support  

When children and young people start at our school we complete a holistic assessment to determine a baseline of each learner’s strengths and barriers to learning. As part of this assessment we work hard to really listen to what our learners are communicating through their overall well-being, non-verbal, augmented & verbal communication, physical and sensory behaviour and ability to remain regulated. We understand and accept that the children and young people at our school learn differently to their neurotypical peers and that they have different motivations and learning styles/needs. This supports us to develop an individualised curriculum that enables them to learn best. We respect our learners as individuals and continuously monitor their progress and outcomes to ensure that our involvement, as well as their curriculum and support mechanisms, continues to meet their needs. We recognise that high expectations for our learners may be paired with high levels of support. We also recognise that listening to the student voice is essential for best practice and meaningful outcomes. We aim to work as a trans-disciplinary, multi-agency team in a seamless way, using teaching and therapeutic approaches that fit within our ethos of nurturing the individual to deliver best outcomes in preparation for adult life.  

This can involve interventions and support from a range of additional professionals from a range of agencies including health, social care, residential homes, respite provision and CAMHS. Our team works collaboratively with all agencies to ensure that the child’s needs can be fully met in all environments.  

Learning Strategies  

Learners are provided with regular, planned opportunities to use and apply their skills across all curriculum areas and across settings. They have regular access to community environments and support is given to parents and carers so that they can generalise their skills and learning.  

At Sherwood Park school we implement a range of approaches that are relationship based, individualised, trauma informed, neuroscience aligned and biologically respectful. For all of our learners these include:  

• Process-based teaching and learning  
• Well-being and regulation approaches through the lens of Self-Reg  
• DIR- Philosophy including DIR Floortime  
• Intensive Interaction  
• Total communication approach, including use of aided language stimulation & robust augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems  
• Outdoor school and Forest School  
• Parent co-production, coaching & support  

The needs of our PMLD and SLD cohort are met on our Sherwood Park Campus as they require a sensory rich environment. This is a purpose built school, adapted for the specialised learning needs of children and young people with PMLD and SLD.  

For our PMLD cohort we prioritise health, well-being, communication and freedom from pain and discomfort in order that this cohort can learn best. The approaches and interventions used include:  

• Sensory rich experiences - Sensology, Sensory Journeys, Story Massage, Music & Movement
  • Principles of neurodevelopmental therapy and rhythmical movement  
• Well-being and regulation focused plans for promoting positive physical and mental health
  • Regulation profiles using the process of Self Reg  
• Robust augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems (e.g PODD, Eye Gaze), TASSELS and objects of reference  
• Environmental and task adaptations e.g. switches, access modifications  
• Assistive technology  
• 24 hour postural management and splinting  

For our SLD cohort we prioritise the development of co & self regulation, communication and life skills. The approaches and interventions used include:  

• Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Supports (SCERTS) framework
  • Regulation profiles using the process of Self Reg  
• Well-being & regulation focused behaviour support, including low arousal approaches and Studio 111  
• Sensory interventions including sensory circuits, Therapeutic Listening, Sensory Stories
  • Attention Bucket  
• Robust augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems (e.g core vocabulary boards, Proloquo-2-Go, LAMP words for life), Makaton, objects of reference  
• Transactional supports including; visual timetables, ‘now, next & then’, visual schedules
  • Environmental and task adaptations & video modelling  
• Social stories, Comic Strip Conversations & Talking Mats  
• Assistive technology  
• 24 hour postural management and splinting where required  

Meeting Child Needs  

The school has specialist knowledge and expertise in a range of complex learning, wellbeing and therapy needs delivered through our structured 3-Tiered Model of provision. This ensures that new, specialist interventions can be delivered at targeted level and then often become self-sustaining at universal level over time where possible.  

We work hard to ensure that our staff are up to date with new and evolving approaches and interventions. This is to ensure that we can best meet the changing needs of our highly complex cohort of learners. Our school community embraces a growth mind-set and our commitment to professional development enables all staff to have continuous opportunities to learn and develop their skills for the best interest of our learners. When faced with new challenges staff work collaboratively, using evidenced based practice, reflective practice and practitioner research to understand the issues and find workable solutions, adding to the wider knowledge of the workforce.  

Ofsted 2018 reported:  

Parents said that ‘you and your team are very approachable and go over and above expectations, to bring out the good qualities in pupils’. Staff ‘feel supported by you and your senior leaders and are highly appreciative of the training you provide to improve their teaching skills. They said that you are committed to their growth and development and describe the school as a ‘learning community’. Staff say that they are proud to be a member of staff at the school and enjoy working there’. ‘Governors are knowledgeable and provide leaders with the right balance of support and challenge.’  

 

 

Access to Exams/Accreditation  

We have high aspirations for our learners.  

All learners with PMLD leave Sherwood Park having gained accreditation in units of the EQUALS Moving On Curriculum, that are selected based on their own interests. Many then go on to local Further Education colleges where they will continue to develop and nurture positive relationships with others, expand their curiosity of their world around them and explore their local community, all it has to offer and what they can offer it in return  

All learners with SLD will have gained accreditation in units of the EQUALS Moving On curriculum which encompasses vocational skills, independent living skills and world studies. Many learners in this cohort go on to Further Education to continue study in an area of interest and/or to build upon the vocational and independence skills they have gained throughout their time at Sherwood Park. Some learners go straight on to supported employment, including apprenticeships and traineeships.

Comfort, Safety & Socialising  

It is our belief that happiness and positive emotions create an upward spiral towards emotional well-being which leads to more successful outcomes. Supporting our learners to live pleasant, meaningful lives is central to our learning environment, therefore our starting point is safeguarding and supporting positive well-being. Safeguarding is prioritised, training for staff is robust and a culture of transparency is embedded. We have a trans-disciplinary well-being team and well-being offer that can be accessed by all learners at universal, targeted and specialist level where appropriate. This team ensures the school’s values regarding the safety, comfort and management of the well-being needs of learners are embedded in all areas of school life. We closely review the balance between the psychological, social and physical resources of the pupil with the psychological, social and physical challenges of their curriculum and daily lives. This includes assessment and analysis of a learner’s capacity to cope with stress. Following this assessment a well-being (stress / health management) plan is put in place, which includes the difficulties outlined; the predicted length of the intervention; the intervention to be provided and any involvement with outside agencies.  

Friendships between learners are nurtured, as well as relationships between parents and carers, so that they can continue to flourish beyond the classroom. We run a small range of lunchtime clubs, offer extra curricular activities such as swimming, horse riding, basketball, football and cycling, and support carry over of learning into the community through community trips and close links with providers such as Mencap and community support PAs.  

 

Ofsted in 2018 reported:  

‘There is a strong culture of safeguarding within the school. Pupils said that they feel safe and if they are worried about anything, they would tell teachers or older pupils’. Staff know the correct procedure to follow if they have a concern about a pupil. They know individual pupils exceptionally well and fully understand the risks they may face due to their vulnerabilities.’ 

 

Developing social & emotional skills  

We are very proud of our trans-disciplinary approach between teaching staff and therapists and we place great emphasis on supporting our pupils to feel safe, well and emotionally regulated in order that they can achieve their best. We prioritise and support social and emotional development through our Equals curriculum and trans-disciplinary approaches such as; Self-Reg, DIR Philosophy and Floortime, SCERTS and a total communication approach. Social and emotional skills are taught both explicitly in structured lessons and implicitly through in the moment learning across the school day. This is also supported within our community visits and our Forest School / outdoor school learning opportunities.  

We are working to become a Self-Reg Haven school. Self-Reg® is a process for enhancing self-regulation by understanding and dealing with stress. In Self-Reg we consider both our responses to stress and our underlying state of energy and tension when we encounter stress. Staff use Co-Regulation, or Co-Reg, which is a shared state of calmness between individuals within which we reframe the other’s behaviour, identify and reduce their stresses, and help them shift from maladaptive to restorative modes of self-regulation. Through this approach we focus on developing quality relationships that will help our learners build resilience and the ability to self regulate.  

Ofsted in 2018 reported:  

‘On the day of the inspection, pupils were well behaved both in lessons and at other times of the day’. They also reported that ‘pupils make strong progress both academically and emotionally’. They reported that there has been a focus ‘on pupils working towards being able to regulate their own emotions, so that they are ready for learning. At the start of the school day, we saw that pupils have very specific and individually planned programmes to follow, according to their needs. This ensures a calm start to the day and prepares the pupils well for learning’.  

 

Early Help Support in the Community (Tier 2)  

Our safeguarding and wellbeing teams work closely with the child and the team around the child, including their parents, to identify areas of difficulty, additional support needs and areas of additional stress. We work quickly within our school team to respond to these needs and adapt our provision accordingly, increasing our levels of support.  

We also initiate referrals to outside agencies and work collaboratively with them to support our learners and their families receive the support they need to set up and sustain respite opportunities, social inclusion and leisure groups as well as housing options. This enables our learners to remain in the family home for longer, or to move out into supported local accommodation with peers as appropriate. This support also includes working closely with health and mental health partners to ensure that the correct interventions and supports are put in place.  

Bullying  

Each class supports students to behave positively through positive well-being, communication skills and targeting learning to support unsolved problems and lagging skills. Please refer to our ‘Well-being (Behaviour) Policy and ‘Wellbeing Anti-Bullying Policy’ available on our website.  

Disability Support  

The needs of learners with PMLD and SLD are met on our Sherwood Park Campus as they require a sensory rich environment. This is a purpose built school to cater for the specialised learning needs of children and young people with PMLD and SLD. The environment is wheelchair accessible, fitted with ceiling track or manual hoists and there are appropriately adapted changing, hygiene and toileting areas. There are school nurses and NHS therapists on site to support the school’s teaching and education funded therapy team. There are two purpose built sensory rooms, dark room, ColorScape room, soft play room & therapy gym with access to suspended equipment. There is also a jacuzzi, life skills room and fully accessible swimming pool. Outdoor areas include early years play grounds, wheelchair accessible swings, trampoline and roundabout, a multi-purpose games area, sensory garden and a discovery forest.  

For our PMLD & SLD cohort there is a focus on equipment and resources that are adapted for children and young people with sensory and motor difficulties, including switch adapted toys and adaptive ICT equipment, sensory-motor equipment, rebound trampoline and highly specialist communication systems.  

Accessibility  

Please see our accessibility plan which is available on our school website. We continuously look to improve our facilities to support our complex cohort. We have recently improved and updated the resources available in our therapy gym on our Sherwood Park Campus to enable integrated working between education and NHS therapists. We are also in the process of updating the facilities in our dark room and recently refurbished our soft play room. We have expanded our options for pupils to access eye gaze systems in all of our PMLD classes in order that our students have the opportunity to learn to use the software to determine if it will be the right system for them. We have upgraded our IT access, purchasing a wider range of devices, switches and apps to support access to learning. We have also updated and improved the accessibility of our toileting and changing facilities and we are in the process of installing fencing at the front of the school to make the site more secure.  

In 2023-24 we are progressing with a full access report to review the accessibility of the space available to our learners, upgrade the facilities in the discovery forest and update the facilities in the life skills room.  

Who we work with  

The school works closely with the Local Authority to meet your child’s needs as identified in their EHCP. We work in a trans-disciplinary way with our education funded therapists (in close collaboration with Cognus Therapies) and NHS nursing and therapy colleagues who are all based on site. They are seen as part of our team and are involved in all aspects of school life. We also have access to other Cognus services and work in collaboration with our colleagues from these services. This includes such as Case Workers, Educational Psychologists, Sensory Impairment team (hearing and visual impairment) and education welfare team.

Working with Other Agencies  

We have close, collaborative working relationships with other agencies in order to meet the total needs of our learners and their families. This includes Social Services, local and tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Transition Team (this includes close links with local colleges and work experience links), local respite services including Mencap and overnight respite facilities. We attend and host meetings to facilitate best practice and provide training and support for our colleagues as required.  

We also receive extra-curricular support from a range of providers. This includes music therapy, play therapy, pet therapy, rebound therapy, step into dance, sports coaches for football and basketball and RDA horse riding.  

Specialist Services and Expertise  

We have specialist teaching staff, well-being practitioners and therapists who are highly trained in working with children with complex needs. This includes working with children and young people with significant medical, well-being (including behaviour) and communication needs. We are skilled in using a range of specialist, highly individualised and often bespoke approaches and interventions to achieve aspirational outcomes for our learners. We provide advice, training and support on request to local service providers.  

Parental Involvement  

We believe that a pupil’s education is a partnership between parents and staff, therefore establishing and developing relationships with parents, carers and the local community is central to our philosophy. We value the contribution that parents and carers make to our school and we have recently set up parent co-production meetings so that parents are involved with our school development. We work hard to provide many opportunities where parents are involved in school life and keep communication channels open and communicate regularly. We have a PTA called Friends Of Sherwood Park School (FOSPS). They organise many fundraising and social activities.

Helping your Child Settle with Confidence  

We recognise that transition is a very important time for children and their families. Transitions at reception, secondary or in year intake involve informal visits, parent information events, parent trans-disciplinary transition meetings, liaison with previous settings and setting visits, as well as settling in sessions.  

We aim to make the transition between classes yearly, Key Stage changes and moving on to new school as smooth as possible. This includes induction sessions, the use of visuals and social stories as well as increased opportunities for well-being and regulation activities. We hold information sessions for parents/carers and transition planning meetings. Parents work in collaboration with the class team and wider leaders and ensure a smooth transition.  

Those of our learners who leave Sherwood Park School at 19 will have completed a comprehensive transition programme at their new education or vocational provision or with their social care provider. All learners will have a personal profile that will enable new providers to further develop and build on their learned skills and aspirations.  

Extended school day  

We run a number of teaching and therapy lunch clubs. These include clubs focused around mindfulness (yoga), physical activity (outdoor/ indoor team sports), arts (music, singing and art) and library skills. We are currently working closely with the local authority to find a local provider for afterschool clubs.