Specialist schools and homes for children and adults with special educational and care needs
Aran Hall School
Welcome to Aran Hall School
Autism, learning disabilities and associated challenging behaviour
38 to 52 week residential Age: Mixed 11-19
At Aran Hall School we provide flexible 38 to 52 week residential care with education to children and young people with a range of learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders, both with associated severe challenging behaviour.
Most young people that come to Aran Hall School have had disrupted periods of education and arrive with under developed knowledge and skills. By providing care and education on the same site we ensure that children’s individual programmes are delivered consistently. Our focus is to provide a safe, stable and nurturing environment where young peoples skills and aspirations can be encouraged to be developed. For each young person we develop an education, care and behaviour management programme. These programmes are evidenced, enabling us to demonstrate students achievements. We are a leader in conducting and publishing clinical research that evaluates the effectiveness of the innovative programmes we run. Staff plan individual timetables which balance academic, therapeutic and life skills activities. The highly structured behaviour management programme provides a clear set of reward activities that promotes a wide range of skills such as turn taking numeracy and communication skills.
We use ASDAN as the main focus of our curriculum delivery. This provides each student with an individualized curriculum that meets their specific needs. There are currently four programmes for young people to follow dependent on their age: Transition Challenge, Towards Independence, Employability and the Personal Development Programme Silver Award.
Have opportunities for community participation and social integration
Have opportunities for community participation and social integration
We use a programme called ‘Active Support’ which focuses on promoting individuals activities and interests. With support from their dedicated Key Worker young people make use of the local facilities. Young people also attend hobby groups, the local youth club, horse riding, canoeing and hill walking groups. They also have the opportunity to join the local football and rugby clubs. Older students who attend the local collage are supported to socialise with their fellow students at social events and college field trips. Teaching takes place in the classroom but also as part of community based activities.Where appropriate we offer older students work experience placements matched to their interests. These experiences support pupils in developing their personal and social skills and the next stage of learning. Young people aged 16 are encouraged and supported to attend one of the further education colleges in the local area. This gives them a chance to experience an educational setting outside of Aran Hall, the opportunity to build new friendships and is an important step in preparing them for adulthood. Young people receive weekly cognitive behaviour therapy sessions which focus on staying safe, understanding public and private behaviour, respecting other people’s personal space and relationships.
We seek to increase the functional communication skills of all our students and use various communication methods including PECS and Makaton. We have a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist who visits the school to work with young people and staff every fortnight.
