WESTERN PARK SCHOOL MSSION STATEMENT PRE 2005

• Offering a high standard of teaching in an inclusive environment.
• Providing appropriate nursing care and support for children with complex medical needs.
• Learning together to meet and develop everyone’s potential.
• Encouraging a caring, welcoming and positive ethos.
• Working in partnership with pupils, parents, carers and the wider community to encourage independence.
• Developing tolerance and sensitivity.

As with any school, our chief aim is to educate young people in a positive, secure and caring environment. At Western Park School we hope to meet this aim by providing an environment where all pupils can be educated in an appropriate setting; a setting where parents know that all their child’s needs can be met by an experienced team.

The school caters for pupils who have complex medical needs and our full time nurse, or healthcare assistant, is always available to meet the needs of our pupils. Up to sixty pupils are educated at Western Park and although not all pupils take medication, many are termed ‘fragile’, ‘vulnerable’ or ‘delicate’.

We provide a more protective educational environment than can be offered in many mainstream settings. Pupils work in small groups led by a teacher, supported by a nursery nurse or an experienced teaching assistant.

The ability range at Western Park is very wide. We cater for pupils who have complex needs and may be working below level 1 of the National Curriculum. We also cater for more able pupils, who because of their medical or psychological difficulties have not been able to access education in a mainstream setting. We offer GCSE’s in five subjects.
The needs of the individual are paramount and nearly all pupils come to us with a Statement of Special Educational needs. This important document outlines the pupil’s additional needs and says how they can be met. To support the statement, the school is visited regularly by staff from the support services.

These staffs liaises closely with parents and keep staff at the school informed about specific difficulties a pupil may have. The occupational therapist and the physiotherapist visit the school every week. They advise staff and parents and sometimes make home visits, depending on the needs of the pupil.

The speech and language therapist spends one day a week in school, working with pupils and advising staff. We work closely with the Special Needs Teaching Service to support pupils with specific difficulties, such as a visual or hearing impairment.

The school is visited regularly by the Educational Psychologist. She or he can observe pupils in the classroom, assess pupils who have particular difficulties and advise staff and parents about different ways to help pupils with their learning. All staff is happy to contact parents with advice and support. We aim to work with all those who can support a pupil with their educational and social development.