Welcome
Welcome to Yarrow Heights School, a mixed 7-19, SEN day school, where every pupil is valued and treated as an individual and with respect.
The vision of our School is to nurture aspiration, develop resilience and empower learning. It is centred on our single desire to make a positive, lifelong difference to the lives of our pupils.
At Yarrow Heights School, we recognise that every child is different. Our pupils have access to a team of highly skilled teachers, multidisciplinary team of therapists, and associated professionals who work closely as a team to ensure each child has a learning and therapy programme tailored to their specific needs.
We focus on enabling pupils to flourish by encouraging and building upon their individual strengths and interests. Our staff teamwork alongside them to develop and deploy specific strategies to overcome and manage their unique challenges and barriers to learning.
In addition to academic achievement, we aim to build emotional wellbeing and resilience and develop the children’s social and independence skills. This approach is carefully structured through a personal development programme of therapeutic interventions, enrichment activities, and bespoke learning, designed to strengthen confidence and self-esteem, through the experiences of success and enjoyment.
Partnership working is central to our ethos and we are committed to working closely with our families to support the progress and wellbeing of their child. Through a named Family Liaison Lead, and on-site workshops, families are offered the support and advice they may need to feel confident and informed about their child’s needs, school experiences and their future prospects.
We are ambitious about our pupils and are deeply committed to ensuring that they have a rich and successful experience at Yarrow Heights School; well-prepared to experience a fulfilling and successful future.
LiamGaster HeadTeacher
Our Ethos
Yarrow Heights School is a mixed 7-19, SEN day school, where every pupil is valued and treated as an individual and with respect.
The vision of our School is for all staff to proactively demonstrate a caring culture which nurtures aspirations, develops resilience and empowers the desire to learn. Our culture is centred on our deep-rooted ethos to make a positive, lifelong difference to the lives of our pupils.
At Yarrow Heights School, we recognise that every child is different. Our pupils have access to a team of skilled teachers, therapists, and professionals who work together to ensure each child has a learning programme tailored to their specific needs.
We focus on enabling pupils to flourish by encouraging and building upon their individual strengths and interests. Our staff team work closely with them to develop and deploy strategies to overcome and manage their unique challenges and barriers to learning.
“The wonderful staff have the time, patience and knowledge to help my child to achieve their full potential”
-Parent
In addition to academic achievement, we aim to build emotional wellbeing and inner strength, to develop the children’s social and independence skills. This principle is carefully structured through a personal development programme of therapy, enrichment activities, and bespoke learning, designed to strengthen confidence and self-esteem, through the experience of success.
Partnership working is central to our philosophy, and we are committed to working closely with our families to support the progress and wellbeing of their child. Families are offered the support and advice they need to feel assured and informed about their child’s needs and future prospects. We are ambitious for our pupils and are deeply committed to ensuring that they have a rich and successful experience at Yarrow Heights School; well-prepared to enjoy a fulfilling and productive future.
Our Ethos can be summed up in our school branding statement:
INNOVATIVE. ACCOUNTABLE. TRANSFORMING LIVES
What Do We Offer?
An Enhanced Curriculum
Our Enhanced Curriculum is designed to support the specific individual needs of our pupils. We have adopted the National Curriculum to underpin our education programme. We have built on this to support pupils to achieve to the best of their ability.
Our school day allows children to learn at a pace appropriate to them, with flexibility in the timetable to suit their individual needs. We also make use of appropriate technology across the school day and throughout our curriculum.
We select children with similar profiles where a mainstream environment may not have been suitable for their needs. Increased levels of anxiety has often led to our pupils being unable to access school, previously resulting in extended periods of missed education. This gives rise to potential gaps in learning and possible deep rooted disaffection with education.
Our aim is to help pupils to transform their own perception of their abilities, which in turn can help them transform their futures. Alongside their academic studies we provide enrichment activities, comprehensive learning resources, therapeutic care and more personalised approaches. We want each pupil to achieve standards which allow them to move on to further education and employment opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach.
We prioritise English, Maths, Science and PSHE/RSHE (Relationships, Sex, Health Education) and all pupils will leave at the end of year 11 with at least an English, Maths and Science qualification, at the level they have reached. Our target is for each pupil to gain at least 5 qualifications by the end of year 11, preparing them for the next stage.
These may be a mixture of awards, Entry Levels or Functional Skills, as well as GCSEs, supported by opportunities to access taster days at local colleges and explore the world of careers.
We consider progress within the pupils’ social and emotional wellbeing to be equally as important as academic progress and we offer integrated therapeutic classrooms, to ensure that our pupils’ needs are met.
Integrated Therapy
Our approach is designed to make every interaction our pupils have across their day a therapeutic one, from the classroom to the dining room, whether playing sport or simply relaxing in a quiet zone. Any time they meet an adult, that staff member will behave in a calm and regulated manner to positively engage with our pupils.
We believe a successful therapeutic school demonstrates three key aspects, which are all interconnected:
» A calm, caring atmosphere
» A therapeutically informed physical environment
» An environment that helps each pupil achieve their full potential
We believe the true gold standard is for our children to experience this structured way of learning and interacting with the world at all times. In this way, we give them the best possible preparation for the world beyond the school gates.
The Therapy Team is comprised of specialists from the fields of Mental Health Practitioners, Emotional Literacy Professionals, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists.
Together with our qualified SEN teachers, who are all experienced at working with children with SEN, our therapists work in an integrated way within the classrooms and across the school. This allows them to identify barriers to learning and suggest strategies to support our pupils in managing these. Education staff are trained and supported by the Therapy Team to incorporate therapeutic ways of enhancing learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom. This ensures that pupils receive consistent, specific support and become able to progress and succeed. Over time, pupils
can learn to internalise and utilise these strategies themselves in their journey towards adulthood.
Our model enables us to offer whole school universal support, targeted support to small groups and specialist support to pupils identified on their EHCPs as needing 1:1 sessions.
Working alongside our Family Liaison Lead, our Therapy Team are able to share their advice and expertise with parents so that they are able to help address the needs of their young people at home.
“This school is an SEN parent’s dream…I will thank them forever for saving my child and for helping him to move forward”
-Parent
OUR ENHANCED DAY
Our enhanced day provides a flexible timetable to accommodate pupils’ needs. We run a breakfast club and an enrichment programme to provide extended learning experiences which focus on positive engagement in social groups and opportunities to build resilience and emotional wellbeing.
This programme extends into our community, and includes a wide range of sporting activities, practical activities, creative and performing arts as well as outdoor learning experiences.
One of the most important aspects of our enhanced day is to help develop the pupils social and independence skills. Many make extended journeys to and from school and as a result struggle to find time to mix with children outside the school. The clubs and enrichment activities they undertake with us are a great chance for them to meet and make friends with others from different age groups, areas and with different interests.
Pupils benefit greatly from achieving results beyond academic attainment. Their emotional wellbeing and resilience are strengthened as they take part in these enrichment activities and programmes. We see the results in greater levels of engagements, confidence and selfesteem.
Family Liaison
We place huge emphasis on our relationship with the families of our pupils. We develop personal plans with every child and consult closely with parents at every step of the way.
Your journey with us begins long before your child starts their first school day at Yarrow Heights. Our pupils have a range of needs that are unable to be supported within mainstream or specialist traditional behavioural approaches of some other specialist SEMH schools.
We work with you from the outset to understand your child’s situation and individual needs. Once we agree that Yarrow Heights is the appropriate choice with Local Authority approval, we begin the careful process of transition which is specifically tailored to your child’s needs. This includes multiple visits for you and your child. We aim to ensure our pupils feel part of our school from day one.
Our Family Liaison Lead facilitates and enhances the partnership between home, school, and the wider school community, through direct and indirect support, individual liaison, parental training and workshops and coaching.
Family Liaison works directly with children and their families in the community, within their homes as well as at the school, to promote, strengthen and develop the inter-family relationship between parents/ carers and children to promote the long-term engagement and enjoyment of learning. They are also in close consultation with the YHS Therapy Team, the Education Team and involved professionals to create time-limited multi-agency short term and longer-term programmes of support.
What is it Like to Attend Our School?
Our People
We have worked tirelessly to create a school which provides a first class education for our pupils. The school’s vision ‘to nurture aspiration, develop resilience, and empower learning’ guides every aspect of our work.
Leaders and staff have exceptionally high expectations of pupils’ achievement and behaviour. Pupils know this and respond very well. They develop a perceptive understanding of their own needs and are keenly aware of their own progress since joining the school.
Our School
The buildings, facilities and amenities of Yarrow Heights are all designed to provide the best possible environment for our pupils.
As well as creating the ideal school from an educational standpoint, we considered the specific needs of our SEN cohorts, paying special regard to the interior design, colour scheme and sensory experience.
Our location means we can offer plenty of outdoor activities, both sporting and free play, as well as bespoke activities suited to our children’s needs.
“Starting at YHS has been my highlight, meeting new people and learning in a style that I can understand”
-Pupil
