'There is a relaxed, friendly environment which enables pupils to feel accepted' Ofsted

Westmorland School is approved by the DCSF no. 888 6048 to cater for 32 children aged 5-11 years.

Westmorland School is a co-educational day special school for pupils who are statemented for behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and associated learning needs.

Location

We are situated central to Chorley, Lancashire with easy access to the M6, M61 and the M65.
Our children attend from a wide radius of home destinations. The local authorities who use Westmorland’s provision are presently ; Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Bury, Cheshire and Blackpool.

Admissions Procedure

We have a formal admissions procedure which is usually initiated by the local authority, although informal visits are welcomed by all interested parties.
The local authority send the individual pupil's statement of special educational needs, along with relevant associated paperwork to the school, whereupon the school admissions panel will identify if the pupils needs can be met.
Following this, an admission interview will be offered to the child, parents/guardians and local authority personnel.  The admission interview will include discussions, tour of the school and informal assessments.
The local authority will be informed of the decision of placement and an addmission date will be offered.
In the case of our school being unable to meet the pupil's needs, the lcoal authority will be given feedback on the reasons why and possible alternative provsion.

On admission all children will receive a home visit in their first two weeks where pastoral staff can gain further information and make those early links with families. An intense 10 week assessment period follows with assessments in areas of;

• Curriculum by class teacher/SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator)
• Cognitive levels, reading, writing, comprehension, numerical operations/application by Educational Psychologist
• Expressive, receptive and social communication levels by our Speech and Language Therapist
• Self esteem, emotional literacy, anger management, relationships/friendships by Psychotherapist
• Behavioural, Emotional and social skills by pastoral staff

After this assessment period a Post Admissions Review is held where all assessment results are discussed by a multi-disciplinary team including the Local Authority and parents/carers.
The Statutory Annual review will then follow annually for every child. At each review meeting consideration of each child’s successful return to mainstream schooling will occur and would be fully supported whenever possible.

Please contact the school for further information. Tel: 01257 278899 or  Email: office@westmorlandschool.co.uk

Range of Difficulties

A high number of our children will have additional needs which we successfully meet, for example:

• Aspergers syndrome
• Specific learning difficulties
• Communication difficulties
• Attachment Disorders
• Mild/Moderate learning difficulties
• Mild vision/hearing difficulties
• Mild or controlled Epilepsy
• Feotal Alcohol syndrome