Pontville School

Witherslack Group

 
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Pontville School is a co-educational day and residential school for children and young people between the ages of 7 – 19.  We meet the needs of pupils who have a range of Social Communication Difficulties and associated learning difficulties.  The school is located in the historic market town of Ormskirk in Lancashire.

"When I came to pontville school I was helped lots my life at pontville has been the best time of my years thanks to all the staff at Pontville School for helping me".
Bradley George Wilson
Editer of Pontville School Newsletter

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Pontville School Latest News:

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Helping others near and far

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World Autism Conference

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Celebrating Its Centenary

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'Outstanding' Ofsted

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World Autism Conference

If you are a relative or professional living or working with a young person who is diagnosed with Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome you will know that the barriers within education, employment, and social situations are significant. The impact that the complexities of Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome has upon life situations is very real. Communication is a key factor in addressing the needs of such young people and by addressing this issue, windows of opportunity are opened. This enables young people to progress, in terms of furthering their education and employmentoptions, by improving self–esteem and confidence orsimply by offering an opportunity to feel included in society, to feel valued and understood.
 
Building on the success of previous conference, Edge Hill University is hosting the fourth international conference addressing the needs of young people with Autism/Asperger’s syndrome.  The conference takes place on 21st May 2010.
 
This years keynote speaker is Dr. Gary B. Mesibov, who is currently the Director of Division TEACCH at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This internationally recognized statewide program is one of a kind in its pioneering approaches to research, service, training, treatment and the education of individuals with autism. Prior to Dr. Mesibov's appointment as Director of Division TEACCH in 1992, he served as the Division's Co-Director from 1987 and the Associate Director from 1983. Dr. Mesibov also serves as Professor of Psychology, Dept. of Psychiatry, and Clinical Professor, Dept. of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Mesibov is a licensed practising Psychologist in the state of North Carolina.
 
 
You are invited to submit abstracts for oral and / or poster presentations to keytosuccess@edgehill.ac.uk by Friday 26th February 2010.
Further information is available at http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/events/2010/05/21/conference-addressing-autism-asperger-s-syndrome    
 
For information on autism please visit www.nas.org.uk
Pupil Places On The Up At Pontville

A school in West Lancashire, which focuses on children with communication difficulties, is making more pupil places available and extending its range of provision.

Pontville School in Ormskirk has up to 15 new places available for children aged 7 to 11, in a specialist unit. This expansion of provision has been agreed by Ofsted and recognises the continued high quality of education and care offered by the school.

The new primary unit within the school, part of the Witherslack Group’s growing portfolio, will cater specifically for children identified as having more severe needs associated with Communication Difficulties and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Headteacher, Iain Sim said: “This is a new initiative for Pontville school and working in conjunction with our sister school Lakeside, in Liverpool, which specialises in working with primary aged children who have higher functioning ASD, the Witherslack Group are now able to meet the complete range of all Autistic Spectrum Disorders.”

Mike Barrow, Director of the Witherslack Group said: “This is a very exciting time for us and the extra number of pupil places and increased provision can only be a positive thing for children, parents and Local Authorities not only across the North West but at a national level.”

 
PONTVILLE SCHOOL CELEBRATES IT’S CENTENARY

Pontville School, a special school in West Lancashire, is celebrating one hundred years of educating and caring for young people who have speech, language and social communication difficulties.
The school was opened in 1910 by the Catholic Church to cater for up to 75 young people with special educational needs aged 9 to 19 and has seen many radical changes since then.
Since the school was taken over by the Witherslack Group 9 years ago, it has benefited from a full modernisation programme including specialist areas for literacy, numeracy, science, home economics, physical education, art and craft. A significant investment has also been made in ICT across the site to network all classrooms and install interactive whiteboards to enhance the curriculum and young peoples’ learning.
In the latest Ofsted inspection, Pontville was rated as Outstanding in all areas of education and care.
Iain Sim, Head Teacher at Pontville School, said: “The school has long track record of helping children with significant social communication and language impairment needs associated with autism.  Recent additions to our professional therapeutic team include speech and language therapists, an occupational therapist and additional therapeutic approaches such as meditation and relaxation.  This means Pontville is now a leading school in the UK for young people with these type of special educational needs.
“All subject areas in the school are designed to teach communication skills as a central theme to their content. By having this focus within the curriculum, skills that are difficult to transfer become more naturally acquired as they are practised in all lessons across the day and in the residential setting for those accessing this facility.”
“We will be having an Open Day to celebrate the centenary on the 23rd of July and parents, local authorities and any other people working within SEN are welcome to visit on the day to look at our provision.”
For more information about Pontville School call the school on 01695 578734 to attend the Open Day.
'Outstanding' Ofsted

Pontville School has been rated “outstanding” for the overall quality of its education and its residential provision.
 
The report highlights the school as being “particularly successful in improving pupils’ communications skills, increasing their self-esteem and confidence as well as preparing them for adult life.”
 
Inspectors also pointed to the “overwhelmingly supportive” questionnaires received from parents including the following typical comment, “School life for our son before going to Pontville was so emotionally hard and stressful. He is now a much calmer and centred young person due to Pontville’s effect on him. We are absolutely overwhelmed by what a wonderful school it is.”
 
In 2009, the school achieved a 100% pass rate for GCSE exams, with some pupils gaining seven, which the report says is due to the “outstanding curriculum and outstanding teaching and assessment.”
 
Iain Sim, headteacher at Pontville School, said: “Everyone has worked tremendously hard to ensure we are delivering the very highest quality education for our pupils. Such “outstanding” results can only be achieved as a result of the dedication and commitment shown by all of my staff.  This acknowledgement is well deserved and I am confident these standards will be maintained and where possible improved even further.”
 
Jim Bowers from The Witherslack Group, said: “It is well deserved and reinforces the confidence and trust by parents and local authorities in entrusting their children’s education and care to Pontville School.”
 
Helping others near and far

Pontville School dedicates a great deal of the curriculum to developing pupil selfawareness. The school has programmes in operation for self-awareness alongside anger management and counselling services. In addition to this the school also helps the young people develop a greater awareness of each other and their wider society. In this, Pontville’s Centenary Year, projects have been completed near and far to help others.

These have included supplying local hospices and homes for the elderly with flower boxes twice a year and an international project whereby the school raises funds to support a ‘sister’ school in Cambodia. Various fundraising events linked to activities in school have helped us raise funds for the Village School in the Ackdong region of Cambodia, which have been used to build a new roof for the school, supply fully equipped school bags for pupils and provide bikes for the pupils to get to school. Lakeside Run for Cancer Research Helping others near and far Pontville School.

Iain Sim, Head Teacher at Pontville commented: “This work is very important in helping others but in also developing the awareness of young people with communication skills for whom empathy is a difficult concept. This wider curriculum is essential in helping our young people develop strategies to help them in the wider world.”