The residential home for Bladon House School in Newton Solney have received an ‘Outstanding’ grade from Ofsted in their inspection, which took place at the beginning of June. The school provides day and residential placements for children aged 5 to 19 years with a range of complex needs, including: a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder, speech, language and communication needs; moderate or severe learning difficulties, mental health issues and associated challenging behaviours. The school also has expertise in helping with children and young people with Prader Willi Syndrome manage their condition.
Inspectors praised the home for the significant progress children make to achieve their potential through the rich and varied experiences offered to them. This includes making a music album, writing a cookbook and visiting Disneyland. A parent told the inspectors “I consider myself to have very high standards and want the absolute best that is on offer for my daughter. This home meets my expectations”.
Young people are also making fantastic progress in learning life skills by being encouraged and supported to challenge themselves by staff who the inspectors said “have a commendable understanding of current and changing risked posed to and from the children”. This support of young people to take age appropriate risks develops their self-esteem, confidence and resilience.
The homes commitment to ensuring that parents are involved in their children’s lives was also praised by the inspectors, as well as the warm and nurturing relationships staff had with children, which provided reassurance to parents. One parent told inspectors “As a parent I am sad that she is not able to live with me and that I cannot keep her safe, but the staff in the home do this for me, so I have total peace of mind”
The school received a ‘good ‘grading from Ofsted in their education inspection in March 2019.
Huge congratulations to young people and staff of Rowden House School on winning this years Scarecrow competition. A special well done to Alina (Costumes) Linda (Scarecrow) and to the Rowden entourage who had a great evening parading through Bromyard town – you all so deserve this win.
Well Done Bladon! The emotional well-being and mental health of students and staff is a primary focus at Bladon House School and this has been officially recognised by the schools’ successful accreditation for the ‘Wellbeing Award for Schools’ from Optimus Education. The school had a final verification visit for the award on the 22nd May 2019.
The process to achieve the award was very rigorous. The school worked to produce a detailed portfolio of evidence to meet eight main objectives and evidence 48 individual key performance indicators.
Evidence surrounded:
pupil voice
staff stress management and appraisal processes
staff training
reducing the stigma around mental health
communication with parents
working with external agencies
interventions put in place for students.
For Staff
Initiatives to support staff whilst they are at work include termly spa treatments, discounted cinema tickets, yoga sessions onsite, clinical supervisions as well as a staff voice forum which takes place once every half-term.
For Students
Students enjoy art, music and drama therapy. As well as the new recent introduction of therapy dogs onsite, which the students have loved.
For Parents
For parents the school have introduced a parent forum which takes place once a term. These meetings not only give the school another way to communicate with parents, it also allows parents to build a support network with each other.
Of course this is an ongoing process and the school will continue to work hard to maintain the award and the great ethos they have created around emotional well-being and mental health.
On Thursday 23rd May 2019, Scorpius and Hydra classes joined forces and travelled to the NEC in Birmingham to test our nerves at the Bear Grylls Adventure. Great excitement filled the coach en-route to the venue.
With challenges ranging from a commando assault course and the escape room, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. The groups nerves were tested during the Survival Maze. This included a blacked out tour around the snake pit, a tropical thunder storm and spider riddled blacked out cave system.
We were rewarded for our bravery with a delicious snack in the Bush Tucker Challenge room at the end.
A brilliant day out with our amazing, brave and adventure young people. Go Teams Scorpius and Hydra!
Students have created forest spirits during outdoor education lessons this week and gave their forest spirit a name.
Items around the woodland were used to decorate the spirit, developing observation, fine motor skills and creative thinking.
Students then talk about their spirits, explaining how they made it and giving it a back story if they wish. This develops self confidence, communication and social skills.
During the spring term students from Ara and Vela carried out a number of successful P.E. sessions at Mickleover gymnastics in Sinfin.
This venue was specifically chosen to allow the students to maximise opportunities for functional movement and to increase the likelihood of their life-long engagement in physical activity. These aims are two of the key aims of the ‘My Physical Well-being’ scheme of work delivered as part of the semi-formal curriculum, developed by EQUALS, which we use here at Bladon House School.
Students had the opportunity to access a wide variety of gymnastic apparatus such as the trampoline, tumble track, high bars, beams, vault, and sprung floor. Using this apparatus students participated in and enjoyed different forms of movement, balance, and co-ordination activities whilst developing their gross motor skills.
The students really engaged with these sessions and always left with a smile on their face!
Matt Cousins, Head of Care at Bladon House School introduced a challenge target for each young person. The challenge target was separate from the targets set around their Education, Health and Care Plan. The target was to focus on a skill, an experience or a contribution.
A trip to Disneyland Paris was considered both a challenge and an experience for one student, as he can at times struggle with busy environments and long journeys. The journey was planned well in advance with a train to London St Pancras and Eurostar to Paris. Accommodation was sourced at the park, to soak up the atmosphere even more.
The young person had a wonderful time experiencing using foreign currency and hearing another language being spoken, exploring Disney Land Park, Walt Disney Studios and Rainforest Café. He also learnt some basic French words before the trip including Bonjour, Merci and S’il vous plait.
The ‘Mad Science’ Enrichment group enjoyed a fantastic day trip to the Big Bang Science Fair which took place in March, at the NEC Birmingham. The fair is the largest science event in the UK for young people. Its aim is to show young people the exciting and rewarding opportunities there are in science, by bringing the classroom to life. Students enjoyed visiting the exhibits and getting careers advice from the experts.
Students across the year groups are involved in a local art project with Wirksworth based art group ‘Pitch Blue’, to create and complete a piece of art work based on a farming theme.
The piece of art will be displayed in the library during Wirksworth Festival, a rural arts event that is held in the town in September. The students are attending more stained window workshops in May and are really enjoying the experience.
Students in the Enrichment Drama Group at Alderwasley Hall School have been working on a film project called ” Petty Politics”, written by the student themselves.
Students have worked hard on the project and have acted, directed, written and produced the film. The film is currently in the post production edit suite. The school has a green screen to help set the piece in London, enabling the students to have this great experience. Other scenes were filmed on location. We plan to show the premier of the film by the end of the academic year.
The story centres around an argument between a group of American tourists and locals while the Americans are sight seeing in London. The tension rises and tempers fray and in the middle of all the mayhem the police try to keep order. To make matters worse, into the situation come Teresa May and Donald Trump, who is on a secret visit to the UK. Instead of trying to calm the situation both May and Trump start to quarrel and sit back to watch what happens.
