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An independent co-educational day school for students with high functioning autism, Asperger's Syndrome, language, communication and social pragmatic difficulties and those associated with specific learning difficulties.
Tailored Learning
Positive behaviour and rewards
We believe that positive behaviour is important for effective learning. At THSL we emphasise teaching students how to manage their own behaviour. We apply a variety of strategies, and always teach in a context of positive behaviour management. We ensure that the environment is safe and that it supports our students’ individual needs.
We use reward systems to keep children motivated and to help them take responsibility for and ownership of their own learning. In all cases we ensure rewards are individual and meaningful, and are matched to a student’s interests thereby supplying the motivation for achievement.
Students have been instrumental in designing our school rules, which recognise positive attitudes and attributes. All students are supported, encouraged and expected to follow them at all times. Our staff model positive behaviours; the school rules are on display at all times for reference and reinforcement.
We praise positive behaviours, attitudes and efforts. This helps students gain awareness of the value of making a positive contribution to their school and community. A student’s achievement is recognised through self-reflection and peer assessment exercises, as well as with school certificates and awards.
Our approach and philosophy are reflected in our behaviour policy, which is applied consistently by all school staff and visiting professionals.
The school does enforce sanctions and consequences to those children who are unable to follow the school rules and make the right choices. These range from pupils not receivng their rewards or tokens to detention during breaktimes or missing out on 'fun' activities. The school works closely with families to support students in understanding the boundaries of acceptable behaviour in school. If the circumstance arises that a student persistently is unable to follow the school rules, then as a final measure a fixed term exclusion or a termination of placement maybe enforced.
Curriculum design
At THSL we apply a variety of teaching methods to suit our pupils’ different learning styles. Some benefit from a multi-sensory approach that accommodates their kinaesthetic and visual learning styles such as mind mapping. Tasks and activities are broken into manageable chunks to help students with organisation and sequencing skills.
Our curriculum planning promotes differentiated targets and outcomes in every area, always tailored towards an individual’s needs.
Heavy emphasis is placed on our social skills programme. This is taught both as a whole class and by focusing on individualised targets. It plays a vital role in helping our students develop friendships, and positive interactions and self-image.
At THSL we place importance on the generalisation of skills and knowledge, as well as on developing functional skills as part of our independence and life skills curriculum. We teach to half-termly themes which helps to engage children and to connect different areas of our curriculum.
We place value in fostering positive attitudes towards school. Learning should be fun, and students should be motivated to achieve their best, proud of their achievements, and confident in their own abilities.
Environment
The Holmewood School is set in an attractive converted Victorian house, onto which modern classrooms and a hall were added much more recently. Being a small school, there is a pervading sense of familiarity and security our staff and students are part of a close community.
We have a safe entry and exit to the building, which is protected by fob and code systems. All staff and visitors are required to have ID.
The school environment has been tailored to meet the needs of our students and to minimise distraction and misunderstanding. Low levels of environmental arousal are enhanced by Internet hard wiring, non-flicker lighting, acoustic noise reduction and soft colours. Where appropriate, there are visual cues and timetables to support understanding and organisational skills.
We have a small teaching kitchen where students can learn to cook, and thereby develop a valuable life skill.
Students have free access to a calm room, where they are able to sit quietly and reflect if they need some time away from the class.
At break times students can use a leisure room filled with fun activities and games. In the main this is a learning experience and supports the development of social skills and social rules. It also encourages leisure interests and skills.
Inclusion
The Holmewood School has close links with the North London International School.Both are part of the Dwight Family of Schools. These links provide a unique opportunity for each school to draw upon the skills, knowledge, expertise, facilities and resources of the other .
Students at THSL have opportunities for inclusive activities at NLIS, where it is assessed as appropriate to their needs. Inclusion may be in the form of social activities, leisure activities or curriculum participation. Similarly, THSL offers students at NLIS the opportunity for specialist learning and provides input for those students requiring additional support.
Partnerships
Partnership working is the essence of the way we operate at THSL. Our approach ensures that all staff, multidisciplinary teams, families and students work together to achieve the best outcomes. Our aim is to ensure that families and students understand what is happening at school and beyond.
We conduct regular school-based multidisciplinary meetings, staff meetings, planning meetings and training to ensure our staff are working together in the optimum way. Families have opportunities to meet with staff and professionals at times that are mutually convenient, to discuss their child’s progress or any concerns they may have.
Families are included at every stage of the planning and target-setting process. We hold termly Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings as well as an annual review meeting. This includes all the relevant teams, including outside professionals.
Where necessary staff also conduct home visits. This is usually before entry to the school (to put a transition plan in place). Teachers complete a student profile and gather information from families prior to a new student starting at THSL. Home visits may also be conducted by one of our multidisciplinary team members, to support families implementing strategies at home.
Families are expected to keep the school informed of relevant information that may impact on the teaching and learning of their child. We encourage this information sharing as part of our strong belief that a two-way flow of communication ensures a child gets the best from his or her time at THSL.
Our commitment to partnership working is consolidated by the home–school agreement. It is signed by the head of school, and we ask families and students to sign too as a sign of their commitment.
A personalised approach to learning
All THSL students have access to a laptop computer. This develops their IT skills and provides an additional means of recording. Any additional communication aids or IT equipment that individual students may need is assessed on joining the school.
All students have a personal profile that highlights individual strengths and areas of difficulty. The profiles provide information on teaching and learning styles, strategies and responses. These profiles are shared between all staff, so there is continuity and consistency in our teaching.
We place a firm emphasis on working with parents and families. Targets and strategies to be worked on outside of school are encouraged. Parents are supported to do this with home visits and training. We also have a Parent Liaison Advisor jpenny@thsl.org.uk on hand to help.
Every child here has an Individual Education Plan (IEP). Student targets are set and reviewed by our teachers, multidisciplinary team and professionals, in collaboration with families and the students themselves. Targets reflect small steps; they are measurable, achievable and realistic, and identify a timescale (these are known as “SMART targets”). IEP reviews are held each term, and families are always invited. It is important that this is a shared process; targets can also be addressed in the home environment.
The annual review meeting is a statutory obligation for all children with a statement of SEN. However, irrespective of whether a THSL child has a statement, each has an annual review meeting. This provides a chance to discuss progress and set targets for the coming academic year, with all relevant staff and professionals involved. We run the annual review meeting in the style of a “person-centred plan”. The focus is child centred and takes into account the views of all those involved with the child. We examine areas of strength, difficulty and importance. Targets that are agreed form the core focus of each child’s personal learning profile.
Form groups are organised by chronological age. These groups learn about social, emotional and independent skills for life, so that topics are age appropriate. For core learning, students are vertically grouped, so that their academic potential can be realised. Class sizes range between six and eight students, and we have a staff to student ratio of no more than 1:4 (although some students require and receive more intensive support).
Personal reflection
Self-reflection and character education are intertwined throughout every lesson. We encourage students to think of character as “how you act when nobody is watching”.
Our “five attributes” are integral to our teaching, and we encourage our students to learn to identify these attributes in themselves and others. Each week students reflect on the five attributes, and on how they and their peers have demonstrated them at school.
The attributes are:
Perseverance: The persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay.
Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of another.
Kindness: The quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.
Respect: Admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities or achievements.
Responsibility: Confidence or the ability to act independently and take decisions with authorisation.
International Baccalaureate Learner Profiles
As a member of the Dwight Family of Schools which are International Baccalaureate (IB) world schools THSL adopts the IB learner profiles as a tool to support the design and implementation of our curriculum. These profiles support the philosophies, ethos and culture of our school, and encourage our learners to contribute to them.
The emphasis of the learner profiles in IB schools is on giving a profile of the whole person as a lifelong learner. At THSL we use the learner profile to support a student’s personal progress and development. Reflection is conducted within a multidisciplinary context where students, staff and professionals contribute to the learner profiles.
Our learner profiles are reviewed regularly in staff planning meetings, and they help to shape teaching and learning. They are incorporated into character education and PHSCE sessions, where they support self- and peer assessments:
Inquirer: Developing a natural curiosity. Asks questions and actively enjoys learning.
Knowledgeable: Seek and balance information about the wider world around us.
Thinkers: Uses thinking to solve problems, critically evaluates ideas.
Communicators: Can express ideas and information with confidence and work collaboratively with others.
Principled: Acts with integrity and honesty, makes informed and responsible decisions.
Open-minded: Respects the views of others. Appreciates own culture and open to values and traditions of other communities.
Caring: Helpful to others, empathetic and thoughtful.
Risk-takers: Willing to make mistakes and try new things.
Balanced: Achieves personal well-being for self and others trough intellectual, physical and emotional balance.
Reflective: Gives thought and consideration to experiences and uses this to support learning and personal development.
Specific Learning Difficulties
At The Holmewood School, specialist teaching provides a multi-sensory teaching programme to meet the needs of students with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia.
This involves developing decoding strategies for reading, phonological awareness, sight words, comprehension and extended writing skills.
Students have access to a range of software programmes to enhance their learning. All students learn keyboard touch-typing, spelling, reading, planning and presentation skills.
Numeracy work focuses on specific difficulties with mathematical problems, recall of number facts, sequencing and worded mathematical problems. Again, the use of some software programmes enhances students’ learning.
Specialist teaching is linked with core curriculum class work. Learning support is provided on a one-to-one basis, in small groups, or within the classroom, always depending on the individual’s need.
Dyslexic students may (where necessary) follow a tailor-made curriculum, taking external exams such as BTEC or IGCSEs on subjects that give them an opportunity for success.
All students are assessed on entry to The Holmewood School and have access arrangements for external exams.
Structured Learning
Structure provides stability, predictability and security. For many of our students, these are crucial elements to ensuring that they are ready and able to learn.
The way in which students’ days are structured and organised depends on their individual needs. Structure and security can be achieved through timetabling, rewards, exercise, schedules, reflection, curriculum support and intervention, and other means.
Students all have individual structured timetables presented in various formats. This enables each student to identify what to expect during the day, and helps them to become more organised.
“Movement breaks”happen throughout the school day. We believe that exercise is key in enhancing attention and concentration, and also obviously contributes to an individual’s health and well-being.
In the lower school children take part in regular circle time. This gives them an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings, greet each other and prepare themselves for the day ahead. It also gives teachers an opportunity to play interactive learning games and to teach social skills.
Students in the middle and upper schools have time at the beginning and end of each day to reflect on their learning, celebrate their successes and resolve any difficulties that may have arisen.
Transition times are an important part of our planning. We explicitly teach all our students how to manage these times and how to prepare for change including planned and unplanned changes.