"The school makes outstanding provision for students' welfare, health and safety." Ofsted

Therapeutic Team

Witherslack Hall School provides specialist on-site therapy: employing a part-time Educational Psychologist and a part-time Counsellor/Psychotherapist as well as a full time Speech and Language Therapist, School Nurse and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

The initial aim, when a pupil first arrives in the school, is to help him settle into the routines and to help him become learning receptive so that he is ready and willing to make full use of his learning opportunities. Pupils are assessed as part of their admission interview by the SENCO, firstly to determine if the school can meet the needs of this child, secondly to determine the likely level of support that this child will need.

Currently the work undertaken by members of the team includes work at an individual and whole school level and support for parents/carers is offered where appropriate.

"There's always someone to turn to and talk through any problems." Student

Therapeutic Input

The school is a therapeutic environment and the approach of the staff is to assist each pupil in identifying core issues, resolving conflict and developing new attitudes and coping skills. Any therapeutic input is designed to help every young person build resilience and to develop a more effective and healthy lifestyle.

A team of staff work together to provide our youngsters with a Behavioural, Emotional, Social and Therapeutic (BEST) programme focused on addressing specific developmental skills, to confront unhelpful behaviour patterns, to promote pro-social thinking, to address knowledge deficits, and to explicitly teach basic core values such as respect, responsibility, positive relationships, and integrity. All staff are involved in the programme and support the attitudes and skills taught in weekly lessons through the “Theme of the Week” programme and by creating specific opportunities to practise and consolidate new skills. Ongoing training ensures that staff continually increase their therapeutic understanding and knowledge of how best to support every pupil.

Speech & Language Therapist

Witherslack Hall School aims to integrate speech and language therapy into the classroom and work towards enabling all young people to make full use of their learning opportunities. Communication is fundamental to learning and therefore collaboration with the teaching staff is essential to ensure communication is functional within the classroom. Activities are selected that will engage, motivate and focus the children's attention, a necessary skill for learning. The Speech and Language Therapist works collaboratively with the teachers in each class to progress the young person's communication skills.

"Now I can stand up in assembly and talk to the whole school - I couldn't have done that to save my life before I came here!" Student

Learning Support

The Witherslack Hall School Learning Support department consists of a team of Teaching Assistants (TA’s) who are managed by the SENCO. TA’s are allocated to support some pupils, with particular regard for the needs of pupils as stated on their statement of special educational need. For some pupils this will entail having 1:1 support in class throughout the day in order to access the lesson content, for other pupils this takes the form of support as and when required. Children who meet the criterion for additional support are taken out of class on an extraction timetable for short, daily sessions of targeted support with a teaching assistant.

This work, carried out in the Learning Support department, covers literacy and numeracy but also many of the underlying factors in learning difficulties, for example difficulties with midline crossing, fine motor control, listening and attention, comprehension. The department works closely with the Speech and Language therapist to deliver communication programmes to meet the needs of pupils assessed as being in need of these.