Moor House School & College Prospectus 2020-21

Prospectus 2020-21

A specialist school and college for children and young people with language disorders

Version: November 2020 Moor House School & College, Mill Lane, Hurst Green, Oxted, Surrey, RH8 9AQ 01883 712271

www.moorhouse.surrey.sch.uk

Registered Charity. 31187

Foreword I could not be more delighted to lend my continuing support to Moor House and the life changing contribution it makes to children and young people with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

The expert team of teachers, therapists and support staff at Moor House ensures that children and young people at the School and College both fulfil their learning and communication potential and overcome barriers, allowing them to become confident, independent people, frequently exceeding all early expectations.

The Charity’s incredible passion and commitment to its students, families, the wider community and those more widely who have DLD, both in the UK and globally, is a source of pride for us all.

HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO Patron

“The Charity’s incredible passion and commitment to its students, families, the wider community and those more widely who have DLD, both in the UK and globally, is a source of pride for us all.”

HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Contents

About Moor House

Page

5

School 9 College 11 Residential 13 Admissions 15 Partnerships with Parents

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“We aim for a society where speech and language disorders do not prevent a young person from achieving his or her learning and communication potential, building an independent life and contributing to society.”

Helen Middleton, Principal

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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About Moor House Moor House is a non-maintained specialist school for day and residential students from age 7 to 19. Our students come from across the country, with places funded by Local Education Authorities.

Our school provides a mainstream curriculum which is differentiated for language. Speech and Language therapy is integrated throughout the curriculum through the consistent use of specialist systems such as the SHAPE CODING™ system, signing with grammatical markers and Cued Articulation.

Our approach ensures that our students achieve their learning potential, maximise their communications skills, and become happy, confident, independent and valued members of society.

Moor House is consistently rated Outstanding by Ofsted.

OUR AIMS Moor House’s main aims are to support our students to:

Be happy and safe

Achieve their learning potential

Develop their skills in speech, language and communication

Build and maintain good relationships and friendships

Become confident and independent members of society

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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About Moor House Over 70 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE Moor House School opened in June 1947 and was the first school of its kind. It was set up by Dr Worster-Drought, a neurologist and Mrs Hudson Smith, a speech therapist and Principal of the West End School for Speech Therapy, London.

From 1947 until 2011, all students at Moor House were residential. In 2011, the decision was made to welcome day students and in 2012 we extended our provision by opening a sixth form provision and became Moor House School & College.

The school’s first patron was Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who supported the school’s work and visited in 1953. MHS&C is extremely fortunate to have HRH Countess of Wessex as our Patron. Her Royal Highness has been particularly supportive of the work of the School & College and has visited the provision on more than one occasion, most recently to open the Residential Village in November 2016.

Pioneering work Since 1947, pioneering work in speech and language therapy and teaching methods has continued at Moor House.

“The school’s research-led innovative practice identifies the small steps required to enable the children to reach their potential.”

OFSTED Care Report 2020

Today, through the work of the Moor House Research and Training Institute, we are at the forefront of global research and training in the field of speech and language disabilities, taking the benefits of our work out more widely in the UK and globally through our training courses and resources for professionals.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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School Moor House provides a specialist environment where the educational needs of each individual student can be met.

We follow a differentiated mainstream curriculum, offering a specialist, safe, caring and stimulating learning environment where students are empowered to reach their potential in language, learning and independence.

Students are taught in small classes of up to 12 students by teachers with training and experience working with children with speech and language disorder. Our key stage 2 provision can accomodate 20 students, while in key Stage 3 and 4 we have a maximum of 23 students in each year group. Differentiated language and specialist approaches are used so that children can understand and develop the language they need for learning. Signing with grammatical markers, the SHAPE CODING™ system and Cued Articulation are used by all staff and support students’ learning and development.

Our Speech and Language Therapists work closely with teachers to understand and support each student’s difficulties and strengths.

Teachers plan and deliver lessons collaboratively with Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Special Teaching Assistants as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to support each student’s development.

“All children are making very good progress and, in many cases, this progress is exceptional.”

OFSTED Care Report 2020

Demand for places is growing because of the extraordinary difference we are making to the lives of young people with speech and language disorder.

In 2020, 95% of year 11 students achieved a nationally recognised GCSE or equivalent and 100% achieved or exceeded their minimum expected outcomes in English and Maths. All KS4 students continued in education after the end of year 11.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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College Moor House College is the co-educational sixth form provision of Moor House offering both day and weekly residential placements.

Students continue to receive individualised Speech and Language Therapy intervention delivered in 1:1 sessions, small groups and direct classroom support. Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Psychotherapy and Specialist Literacy interventions also continue and are embedded across the curriculum.

Students study a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum, incorporating the requirements of their chosen vocational courses as well as Maths, English and PSHCE qualifications. These are highly modified in language content and presentation, to ensure our students’ significant language needs are met.

“You just have to experience it for yourself to understand the true miracle that this school and college holds.”

Quote from current college student, 2019

Students have the opportunity to undertake work experience placements and follow a study skills programme as part of the curriculum.

At Moor House College the specialised approaches required to develop language are integrated throughout the whole teaching day supported with a range of specialist visual systems and strategies such as SHAPE CODING ™, Cued Articulation and signing with grammatical markers.

All our students have an individualised therapeutic programme of life and social skills as well as independence training which operates across the week and into the evenings, working towards becoming independent adults.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Residential Our residential provision consists of modern, single bedroom accommodation for all residential students.

All our care staff are knowledgeable about the needs of students and play a vital role in their pastoral care. In addition to NVQ 3 qualifications and training in Team Teach, Safe Handling of Medicines, First Aid & Food Hygiene, a cycle of training is provided for all residential care staff which includes the use of specialist systems and teaching approaches for young people with severe speech and language impairments.

Recreation plays a vital part in the students’ development and all residential students undertake a range of activities in-house and in the community.

Structured activities are offered each evening including sport, arts and crafts, ICT or Drama.

Singing, piano and drumming lessons are also available through peripatetic instructors.

Many students also access local leisure activities including the local gym, Zumba and Aquafit classes.

A life skills programme is run throughout the residential care time, delivered in a way which supports the social skills and independence of the students.

“[Children] feel cared for, safe and part of a community with a real sense of belonging.”

OFSTED Care Inspection 2020

The Moor House residential provision consistently meets and exceeds the National Minimum Standards for residential special schools and we are proud to consistently achieve ‘Outstanding’ grades from the Ofsted Care Inspectorate.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Admissions Moor House School & College is a highly specialist educational placement which provides individualised, targeted, and specialist education to a specific population of children who have significant and pervasive language disorders and/or speech disorders with average learning potential. The School therefore meets the needs of a discrete pupil population and undertakes very careful and detailed assessment before offering any pupil a place.

Admissions Criteria If your child, or a student you work with, has difficulties developing, understanding and using language which impacts upon their learning and socialisation then Moor House may be an appropriate school for them.

Moor House may be the right place for a student if: • The student is between the ages of 7 and 19 • The student has persisting difficulties in the areas of speech, language and/ communication; and • Speech and language difficulties are the student’s primary barrier to learning and the development of life and social skills.

First steps Please contact our Admissions team on 01883 712271 (option 1) or complete an admissions enquiry form on our website.

At this stage it is helpful for you to send us your child’s most recent Educational Psychology report and Speech & Language Therapy Assessment report, if possible.

Once we have discussed your child’s needs with you and received your child’s documents we will make a decision to invite your child for an assessment if we feel that we are likely to be able to meet their needs.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Admissions Our Pre Admission Assessment usually takes two days, following which you will receive: • Clinical feedback including an explanation of formal assessments and the predicted content of the assessment report; and • A comprehensive multidisciplinary detailed report including recommendations for educational provision.

There is an assessment fee of £1,250. If you have difficulty meeting the cost of the assessment please request a form for Financial Assistance.

Tours and Open Mornings We hold tours of the school and frequent open mornings for prospective parents, providing a great opportunity for parents to see our classes in action, hear about our admissions process and find out more about the school and college.

Please call our admissions team on 01883 712271 (option 1) to find out more and register your place, or go to the Admissions section of our website.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Partnerships with Parents We consider that strong school-parent links are essential in ensuring our students achieve their potential. We aim to help parents to support their child at home, inform parents about how we help their child at school and work together to learn from parents’ experiences.

Parent Staff Association (PSA) events and parent workshops allow families to meet other Moor House families, share experiences, support each other and enjoy activities and events together.

“My child has thrived in this setting.

We are very fortunate to have found such a well organised, compassionate and modern setting for our son.”

Moor House Parent, January 2018

The PSA provides an ongoing framework for support and communication between parents and staff. All parents and carers are automatically members of the PSA and membership is free.

The PSA, run by a committee of volunteers, also leads fundraising events on behalf of the whole school community.

To find out more about the Moor House PSA make contact via the school office, info@moorhouseschool.co.uk.

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Governance Moor House School & College Governors work with the Senior Leadership Team to: • Provide a clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction • Oversee the financial performance of the school and ensure money is well spent • Ensure educational performance is maintained to the highest of standards Our Governors and Trustees sit across the following seven committees, each with different roles and policy responsibilities.

• Every Child Matters • Progress & Attainment • Finance & Human Resources • Fundraising & Marketing • Committee of Chairs • Health & Safety • Research and Ethics Each committee meets four times each year and reports to the full board of Governors.

Policies All relevant Moor House School & College policies, including Admissions, Child Protection and Safeguarding, Behaviour, Complaints and Equal Opportunities and Diversity are published on our website: moorhouse.surrey.sch.uk/policies

The school adheres to education and equality legislation, including the SEND Code of Practice (2014), The Education Act 1996, The Children’s and Families Act 2014, and to its Equality and Diversity Policy.

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Moor House School & College, Mill Lane, Hurst Green, Oxted, Surrey, RH8 9AQ 01883 712271 info@moorhouseschool.co.uk www.moorhouse.surrey.sch.uk @MoorHouseSLCN facebook.com/MoorHouseSchoolandCollege