Redefining education
We don't just educate; we nurture support and propel our pupils towards a future where their potential knows no bounds. Join us on a transformative journey, where education extends beyond textbooks, therapy nurtures resilience, and futures are shaped with purpose and promise.
Love of Learning
We foster an excitement and a love of learning in our pupils by following the national curriculum. Our curriculum and tasks set are challenging yet achievable, enabling children and young people to grow in confidence and prepare for life beyond the classroom. We also provide enrichment activities through educational visits and field trips to support and enhance learning experiences.
With a backdrop of our small class sizes, with no more than eight pupils per class, each child and young person receives a bespoke curriculum tailored to their needs, which is fully integrated with our social development programme.
Our commitment to a well-rounded education includes a focus on social development. Through activities that promote collaboration, friendship, social interaction, and teamwork, pupils build essential interpersonal skills. These experiences help them develop communication, empathy, and the ability to work well with others. By developing friendships and a sense of community, children and young people learn to value diverse perspectives and support one another, creating a positive and inclusive learning environment that strengthens their social growth.
Our outstanding offer
Our school spans two wonderful campuses: our Chorley campus, dedicated to primary pupils, and Wood Campus in Leyland, designed
for pupils aged 11 - 16.
At both campuses, primary and secondary pupils have access to Forest School, animal care, horticulture, and life-skills sessions, in addition to our comprehensive curriculum. Many of these experiences take place at Wood Campus, an inspiring rural setting where pupils can explore their place in the world, build independence and develop social, communication and essential life skills.
Our secondary pupils actively engage in exciting enterprise projects. They manage the Wood Campus café, sell fresh produce at our on-site farm shop and use their skills in horticulture and design technology to support local community projects. These hands-on experiences allow pupils to apply their learning in real-world settings, develop valuable life skills and make a positive impact within our community.
We are dedicated to enhancing the Quality of Life for both the team and pupils, creating an environment where everyone is ready to learn and thrive. This approach focuses on three key areas: Healthy Eating, Healthy Sleep and Healthy Activity, which are essential to improving the quality of life for everyone, regardless of their age or previous experiences.
Each day begins with scheduled Quality of Life sessions, setting a positive tone for learning. Every Friday afternoon pupils enjoy engaging in activities that reinforce these principles, and each term features an entire week dedicated to new experiences promoting healthy habits.
To further support this initiative we provide access to sleep coaches and training sessions for the team and parents, ensuring a shared commitment to these life-enhancing practices.
Over a great number of years now we have been developing our seven behaviours for learning, which are: Resilience, Perseverance, Enthusiasm, Creativity, Confidence, Independence and Engagement.
Each behaviour has its own book and audio book to help pupils understand the behaviours we want them to develop and to replicate them themselves.
Pupils eventually can become School Ambassadors by regularly demonstrating these behaviours throughout the school day.
Our curriculum, developed by our specialist team, is designed to meet the unique needs of every pupil, maximising learning opportunities. We offer three tailored pathways - Engage, Explore and Excel - to guide each pupil’s educational journey.
Engage pathway focuses on stimulating growth across five key developmental areas: Initiation, Persistence, Realisation, Anticipation and Exploration. Activities in this pathway are crafted to promote sensory engagement and foundational skills.
Explore pathway focuses on broadening skills and knowledge, and includes five developmental steps: Communication, Language and Literacy, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving and Reasoning, Personal Development within the Community, and Physical and Health. These six steps encourage pupils to build essential life skills and foster
independence.
Excel pathway is centred on subject-specific learning and achieving greater independence in personal studies. Pupils are challenged to deepen their knowledge and skills, empowering them to reach new academic and personal heights.
Therapy
Our on-site Clinical Team provide pupils with unrivalled levels of therapeutic support, in terms of the level of expertise, the ratio of qualified therapists and clinicians to children and young people, and the range of therapies offered. Pupils have the support of our Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and other specialists as required.
We believe that unless a child or young person is able to feel emotionally safe and secure, they are less likely to fulfil their personal, social and educational potential. Our unique approach to supporting young people through our Wave Model enables them to go on to realise a future filled with aspiration and achievement.
Westmorland School's Clinical Team complete thorough and skilled assessments that support a shared understanding of the complex needs we see in our children and young people. This enables us to put purposeful and appropriate interventions in place and assess our effectiveness through the tracking of outcomes and impact.
Futures
At Westmorland School we are dedicated to raising the aspirations of our pupils, while also equipping them with the skills and confidence to realise outstanding outcomes.
The Futures programme inspires and connects pupils with their next steps beyond education, utilising a growing network of over 350 employer partnerships, including the likes of Microsoft, Mercedes and John Lewis, to provide outstanding experiences of the workplace and ongoing opportunities and support.
Our Futures sessions provide practical guidance on job applications, confidence-building, networking, and workplace expectations, giving children and young people the tools to navigate their career paths with clarity. Complementing this, our Futures curriculum enriches academic growth while developing personal development and career readiness, ensuring they are prepared for their chosen paths. With no upper age limit on support, the programme boasts a 100% success rate in transitioning students into education, employment, or training.