Clubs
At The Holmewood School (THSL) we aim to provide a small number of lunchtime school clubs which are bespoke to the needs of our students.
We have a an art club run by our art teacher and social skills club with our Speech and Language Therapist (SALT). The PE teacher also organises a wide range of activities every break and lunch time including football, basketball, lego and board games to ensure every student can access an activity if they wish, including a chance to complete homework tasks.
Due to a high number of our students being collected at 3.30pm by local authority transport, school clubs run Monday-Thursday during reward time and include art, sports, board games and computing club. These are all run by teachers and provide a structured time for students to enjoy a variety of activities with students from other year groups.
Forest School & Duke of Edinburgh
THSL is a level 3 Forest School and sessions take place all year round in our forest at our Upper School site in Muswell Hill. Ms D'Silva and Ms Mansfield are both Level 3 Forest School instructors, both of whom teach weekly.
Forest school focuses on social and emotional development which is key to our cohort of students on the autistic spectrum. This approach to outdoor learning encourages children to become independent, use their imagination, take appropriate positive risks within boundaries, initiate learning for themselves and achieve success in every session. Students take part in a variety of activities including den building, outdoor cooking, fire lighting, tree climbing etc. We started a pilot fire cooking course in April 2022 with 6th form which has been very successful and offers a different experience for our KS5 students. We also run staff INSET Forest School sessions to ensure all staff understand the concept of Forest School too.
Ms Mansfield is also a Duke of Edinburgh instructor and runs a very popular Duke of Edinburgh program. 31% of eligible students are working on their bronze award, 9% are working on silver and 13% are bronze award holders.
Trips
At THSL, we know that some of the best learning often takes place outside of the classroom.
Our proximity to Woodside Park Station (1 minute) and Central London (20 minutes) means that we can take full advantage of the museums, theatres and many other opportunities that London has to offer.
Recent examples of trips include: National History Museum, The Science Museum, The RAF Museum, The British Museum, The Hayward Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, Central Mosque, Woodside Park Synagogue, Neasden Hindu Temple, The North London Buddhist Centre, The National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Alexandra Palace, Harry Potter Studios and Chessington World of Adventures.
We also run lots of Rewards Trips to celebrate achievement.
We aim to make the most of every opportunity for our students to develop their independence and self-esteem so they do much of the planning and organisation for these trips themselves.
Residential Trips
We run UK residential trips for students and have recently partnered with a new family run residential provider called Milden Hall in Suffolk. Milden Hall is a beautiful working farm in the Suffolk countryside where students have exclusive use of the farmhouse and enjoy homemade food, outdoor activities and lots of fresh air. At the same time they can practise generalising lifeskills and developing social skills while building resilience for ‘life after Holmewood’.
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In 2021-2022 we ran four residential trips. 100% of lower school secondary phase were invited, 54% of lower school secondary phase joined a residential and 39% of upper school students will have taken part in a residential by July 2022.
International trips also run annually for our 6th form students with the focus being ‘life after Holmewood’ and our next international trip is planned for 2023.
Costs vary slightly each year but parents contribute approximately 60% of the cost and the school subsidises the remainder.
Forest School & Duke of Edinburgh
THSL is a level 3 Forest School and sessions take place all year round in our forest at our Upper School site in Muswell Hill. Ms D'Silva and Ms Mansfield are both Level 3 Forest School instructors, both of whom teach weekly.
Forest school focuses on social and emotional development which is key to our cohort of students on the autistic spectrum. This approach to outdoor learning encourages children to become independent, use their imagination, take appropriate positive risks within boundaries, initiate learning for themselves and achieve success in every session. Students take part in a variety of activities including den building, outdoor cooking, fire lighting, tree climbing etc. We started a pilot fire cooking course in April 2022 with 6th form which has been very successful and offers a different experience for our KS5 students. We also run staff INSET Forest School sessions to ensure all staff understand the concept of Forest School too.
We also allow all students to take part in either chick or duckling incubation annually and they take responsibility for looking after the chicks/ducklings whilst they are at school. Students have commented on the calming effect of such projects and some go onto follow animal care courses at college.
Ms Mansfield is also a Duke of Edinburgh instructor and runs a very popular Duke of Edinburgh program. 31% of eligible students are working on their bronze award, 9% are working on silver and 13% are bronze award holders.
Trips
At Holmewood, we know that some of the best learning often takes place outside of the classroom.
Our proximity to Woodside Park Station (1 minute) and Central London (20 minutes) means that we can take full advantage of the museums, theatres and many other opportunities that London has to offer.
Recent examples of trips include: National History Museum, The Science Museum, The RAF Museum, The British Museum, The Hayward Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, Central Mosque, Woodside Park Synagogue, Neasden Hindu Temple, The North London Buddhist Centre, The National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Alexandra Palace, Harry Potter Studios and Chessington World of Adventures.
We also run lots of Rewards Trips to celebrate achievement.
We aim to make the most of every opportunity for our students to develop their independence and self-esteem so they do much of the planning and organisation for these trips themselves.
Residential Trips
We run UK residential trips for students and have recently partnered with a new family run residential provider called Milden Hall in Suffolk. Milden Hall is a beautiful working farm in the Suffolk countryside where students have exclusive use of the farmhouse and enjoy homemade food, outdoor activities and lots of fresh air. At the same time they can practise generalising lifeskills and developing social skills while building resilience for ‘life after Holmewood’. More information can be found here: https://thehall-milden.co.uk/
​
In 2021-2022 we ran four residential trips. 100% of lower school secondary phase were invited, 54% of lower school secondary phase joined a residential and 39% of upper school students will have taken part in a residential by July 2022.
A pilot girls club residential camp started in 2021 with the aim of increasing independence, lifeskills and developing friendships and will now run annually.
International trips also run annually for our 6th form students with the focus being ‘life after Holmewood’ and our next international trip is planned for 2023.
Costs vary slightly each year but parents contribute approximately 60% of the cost and the school subsidises the remainder.