Public Consultation
Devon County Council have received three Expressions of Interest.
Summaries of Expressions of Interest
Wave Multi Academy Trust (MAT), Truro, Cornwall
Wave MAT is an Alternative Provision Academy offering education for KS1 – KS4 (5-16) in Cornwall. It is our belief that the new free school would enable us as a MAT to deliver education for pupils with SEMH & ASC, as an addition, this would enable the MAT to be the “go to place” for schools, parents and other professionals who need support, advice and training across the South West.
Our school will provide education for pupils whose primary special educational needs are due to their behaviour or mental health, there will also be provision for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Condition.
Our school will offer an educational environment that combines best practice in education and current theories around learning, coaching, child development and neuroscience. We recognise that we each learn differently and use a daily balance of structured play, guided activities and direct instruction to support learners to find a motivating and effective pathway to success.
Our curriculum aim is to ensure that our students reach an outstanding level of education with us, relative to their abilities and starting points. Our intention is to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum for all, we will enable children to succeed and will support at all key transition points to help with this success. One of our guiding principles is to tailor to their individual strengths.
We promote a blend of individual study and supported socialised working to ensure that our students are hooked into the enjoyment of learning as soon as possible and want to engage with enquiry based approaches that have meaning for them. Our learners’ needs require a personalised curriculum in a nurturing and aspirational environment.
We will support our students to find ways to express themselves through creative activities and play. The creative process involved in self-expression helps students to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behaviour, and reduce stress. This helps to build self-esteem and raise awareness which helps show our students that it’s safe for them to take risks when learning and that it’s normal to make mistakes. This in turn will support students in finding more positive ways to communicate their emotional needs, to become more emotionally resilient and to prove to themselves that they can learn and gain enjoyment from learning.
PETROC, Barnstaple, Devon
Petroc has a vision to sponsor a school that is recognised as a school of excellence in its provision for children with Autism, High Anxiety, Low Confidence and Mental Ill Health to enable clear, person centred, innovative and sustainable transition pathways through secondary education into post 16 education through academic pathways or technical routes which lead learners with additional needs into higher education and careers or into sustainable employment.
Petroc believes that personal development needs to be within a framework that nurtures self-confidence and self-esteem whilst having a challenging and inspiring curriculum and a consistent culture of high aspirations to enable them to achieve their potential.
Petroc’s ethos is to put the child and family in the centre of all planning for provision and use a multi-agency approach to ensure that a holistic approach to learning includes all appropriate agencies in our teaching and learning. This includes an emphasis on therapeutic intervention for all pupils.
Petroc proposes to teach a solid base curriculum offering the core and foundation subjects from the National Curriculum with English and Maths embedded to make the learning relevant and linked to real life experience at every opportunity. We will support pupils to work at their individual pace, without pressure to achieve qualifications or to be working at the next level within a fixed timescale. We will concentrate on developing knowledge and skills to fill the gaps in learning from primary school, before the pressure to move on, so that learning is consolidated and progress can be made with consistency and understanding the basics.
We will provide bespoke curriculums to support the preferred progression to Post 16 education and an emphasis on preparing for adulthood from Year 9. From Year 9 the pupils will follow a curriculum that has been timetabled according to their future aspirations and goals. They will be offered a range of GCSE and BTEC options chosen by the pupils to support them in their vocational or academic preference for Post 16 Further Education, Higher Education and work. Skills for Independent Life and Work (Preparation for Adulthood) will be an integral part of the curriculum for all learners and include employability skills, interpersonal and social skills, skills for relaxation, mindfulness and resilience as well as work experience.
ACE Schools Multi Academy Trust, Plymouth, Devon
ACE Schools Multi Academy Trust was formed in June 2016. The Trust currently consists of two schools. We are an Alternative Provision (AP) and Special School Trust. We currently provide across Cornwall, Plymouth and Devon.
Our school at Charlton Lodge will specifically support ASC pupils who have communication and interaction difficulties, such as responding inappropriately in conversations, misreading non-verbal interactions, an inability to express emotions in an appropriate manner, or having difficulty building friendships appropriate to their age. In addition, the pupils may be overly dependent on routines, highly sensitive to changes in their environment, or intensely focused on inappropriate items. Because of the range of severity of these traits many pupils are unable to access mainstream or specialist appropriate provision within the surrounding areas. We will want to be part of the local specialist and mainstream education landscape and will work with all schools, academies, MATs and teaching schools to help improve the system as a whole.
Our education plan will be encompassed within our four key areas or FARS: Flexibility, Adaptive, Rigorous, and Successful. It will incorporate learning activities that challenge pupils to recognise and exceed their own expectations, provide appropriate nationally recognised and accredited courses and qualifications that promote high attainment and feature transition planning that will ultimately guide our pupils towards the achievement of aspirational goals in adult life.
Our plan includes a balance of:
1. academic subjects leading to Ofqual recognised qualifications in a balanced curriculum offering;
2. a therapeutic curriculum to meet the special needs of each individual pupil be that social communication, motor-coordination, sensory modulation or emotional regulation;
3. a skills based curriculum to ensure all our pupils have the skills to move successfully to the next stage in their life through our successful futures, PIXL Edge and star skills programmes. These lessons will consist of a rotation of PHSE subjects, leading to enhanced LORIC skills. These will include sex education, drug education, and positive relationship education. The purpose will be to equip pupils to interpret social settings and situations, with simultaneous development of skills that will benefit them upon leaving School.
The focus on independence, problem solving and participation in society will create the building blocks for our pupils to take their place in society.
Public Consultation
If you have views of the above, particularly the requirements of Proposers and what you consider the priorities for delivery of these pupil places, then please submit your comments by 6th July 2018:
– Emailing: schoolconsultations@devon.gov.uk
– Writing to: Strategic Planning – Children’s Services, AB2, Lucombe House, Devon County Council, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4QD