Prospectus - Residential

The school provides a 38 week boarding provision. All students return to their homes for the school holidays. There are no specific exeat weekends, but students may go home for weekends during term.

In the residential area we try to maintain as homely an atmosphere as possible. The residential curriculum is an extension of and support to the day curriculum and provides a major component of the social and emotional development of our students.

The students live in the main mansion with separate boys and girls areas. Students share rooms with friends of the same age. The sharing pattern is reviewed regularly to ensure, insofar as possible harmony.

The accommodation is within large bedrooms in our beautiful building. We work hard to keep the residential accommodation looking welcoming and homely.

The residential teams plan activities to allow students to use skills learned in the classroom setting e.g. money, time, writing and reading etc. As well as other activities such as craft and sports to increase fine and gross motor coordination. The residential programme also provides students with the opportunity to extend their independence in areas of self care, laundry, household tasks and travel.

In addition to these practical skills residence also develops social skills through mixing with a variety of other people, both peers within school and the wider community. This allows students to extend their self-confidence, self-esteem and self-advocacy through discussion and compromise as well as recognition of the rules of social interaction.

The residential curriculum also provides opportunities for the students to interact within the local community using a variety of excursions both regular and opportunistic. These excursions involve places of interest, the beach, the New Forest, theatre, cinema, sporting activities etc. The activities develop the students' skills within the wider community in which they live as well as providing enjoyment while broadening their knowledge base.

The residential staff also make sure that events such as birthdays, passing exams, leaving etc. are celebrated for individuals or groups of students in appropriate style.

Each student on entering school has a mentor fellow student and a keyworker to ensure as much support as is needed is given. Targets to work towards are set following assessment and discussed with the students. These are then put in to the individual care plans. A few targets are also isolated as student choice targets, these are ones they will specifically work on.

All targets are discussed within the staff to make sure that there is a consistent approach and demand for students.

There are residential staff on duty Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., 3.30 p.m. to 7 a.m. with the Head of House or Head of Residential Services on duty to cover the 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. period most days. At weekends residential staff are on duty at all times.

Health

The students' general medical care is overseen by the school doctor from the local practice. The Head of House has responsibility for ensuring any medical treatment required by a student is carried out. Parents will be informed by the Head of House if their child is unwell. See health policy (link)

Links with home

We believe that an open and honest partnership between home and school is vital to a successful school placement. We try to keep parents informed as much as possible. We use home school books, letters, a yearly news letter and a monthly bulletin to try to keep everyone up to date. School staff can be contacted by phone between 8.30 a.m. and 5 p.m., a message will usually be responded to within 24 hours if at all possible. Students may phone home whenever they wish and receive calls between 6 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. weeknights and at any time over the weekends. Two payphones are available for this purpose. Students are also encouraged to write home and enjoy receiving letters and postcards.

Visits from parents are also encouraged although please call ahead to be sure the person you want to see is here.

The school has a home/school agreement (link) to assist in this area.

Safeguarding Students

We do our utmost to provide a safe and secure environment for our students. Accidents do happen but are thankfully minor, few and far between. Any major problems would be reported to parents, LEA, Social Services and Ofsted. There are however rare occasions when students raise issues at school of a nature that has to be passed on under the school's child protection procedure (a copy of which can be obtained on request) without talking to parents first.