WOW! …what a week of Halloween activities we’ve had here at Pegasus. We’ve had Halloween book club, themed colouring, themed jigsaws, movie nights where the young people have all chose which one they wanted to watch … the most votes won! and a Halloween disco! The young people have used their communication aids and made choices for themselves.
Check back soon to look for our offsite activities and firework week.
This season we are pleased to sponsor the kit for Spondon Dynamo’s Spitfires. James Hurst, a member of the Bladon House School maintenance team has recently taken over as coach for the team. Last season they played five a side and have now moved to playing 7 a side and have a number of tournaments comuing up. James has grown the team, which now has 14 players.
Spondon Dynamos is a large club, with a lot of teams at various levels and various ages and supports inclusion and opportunities for all.
Getting together to socialise with friends and raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support was the order of the day for the SENAD Community Coventry staff teams and those they support. SENADs Chief Executive, Richard Atkinson popped in for a slice of cake and to say hello to everyone.
In total they raised a fantastic £80. Well Done!
Thank you to colleagues Katy Brentnall, Head of Creative Arts at Alderwasley Hall School and Sixth Form and Dr Steve Grant, Clinical Psychologist and Head of Therapies at Bladon House School for sharing their expertise in the Autumn edition of Autism Eye Magazine. The article explores how the arts are not only fun, but done therapeutically they have a host of benefits including improving self esteem, well-being and even job prospects.
“Leaders and staff know every pupil inside and out” is the opening line of the inspection report for Rowden House School. The school was graded as overall Good with two Outstanding judgements, following an Ofsted Inspection at the end of June.
The report emphasises the success of the school in re-engaging pupils with a love of learning and the multi-disciplinary team approach and the attention of staff to thoroughly understand pupils starting points when they join the school, often after long periods out of education.
Inspector’s also praised the high level of care and nurture given to pupils and the exceptional skill levels of staff in supporting pupils to self-manage their behaviours.
In addition, the school received very high praise for its focus on pupils’ personal development including the development of communication and language skills, their involvement in the local community and having a choice of work experience settings, all of which helps pupils prepare for adulthood and life after school.
Ruth Nolan, Head of Learning said ‘We are delighted that the report reflects the hard work and dedication of staff to provide students at Rowden with a personalised and meaningful education which prepares them for their future.
To have outstanding grades for ‘Behaviour and Attitudes’ and ‘Personal development’ celebrates the way in which each individual is supported throughout their time at Rowden focusing on developing self-regulation, communication and life skills, which are the key areas of our curriculum.’
“Pupils thrive at this school” is the opening line of the inspection report for Alderwasley Hall School. The school was recently graded as outstanding in all areas following an inspection by Ofsted in mid-July.
Inspector’s praised the curriculum for its ambition, the staff for their seamless team work, the schools’ wide range of expert therapeutic support and the extensive range of enrichment experiences it offers, all of which they identified as reasons why children and young people placed at the school thrive in the way that they do.
The report not only emphasises the success of the school in re-engaging students who may have previously struggled in other settings back into learning, but also the skill of the teachers in closing the gaps in their learning, thus ensuring they fulfil their academic potential. In addition, the school received very high praise for its focus on the development of social and life skills in order to students prepare for adulthood.
Sara Forsyth, Headteacher said ‘I was absolutely thrilled to receive the judgement at the end of the inspection process. This is the first time that our school has been graded as outstanding in it’s 30-year history and I couldn’t be more proud to lead it. The findings of the inspectors are testament to the incredible work that our staff do in our school every day of the week. It’s hugely gratifying to receive recognition and acknowledgement of the passion, expertise and commitment of our staff who ensure that outcomes for our students are consistently outstanding. I have known for some considerable time what an exceptional school Alderwasley Hall School is and this report confirms that.’
Bladon House School have been celebrating all things brilliant about their Teaching Assistants, who go above and beyond for the young people and who are greatly appreciated by the whole team.
On this day, National Teaching Assistants’ Day we salute you!
After 15 years tireless work across the SENAD Group Mark Flynn, Chief Operations Officer has retired and he left the SENAD Group on the 31st August 2022. We wish Mark a long, happy and healthy retirement and send huge thanks to him for all the fantastic work he did for the Group.
We’re pleased to welcome 2 new Directors who joined the team on Monday 5th September.
Suzanne Pennington -Director of Education
After being Head Teacher of a large Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ special school in Buckinghamshire, Suzanne relocated to Derbyshire in 2012, joining the SENAD Group as Head Teacher of Pegasus School. She then successfully commissioned and set up both Ecclesbourne Lodge and OneNineFive transitional homes on behalf of the Group as she struggled to find suitable adult provision for Pegasus School leavers. Suzanne then joined St Andrew’s School in Derby as Head Teacher; a ‘Good’ school with a residential department that was judged to be ‘Outstanding’ at the first inspection under her tenure.
Suzanne is passionate about coaching and mentoring staff to achieve the best outcomes – for themselves and for the young people with whom they work. Suzanne was a Director of the Derby Teaching School’s Alliance, working across the City to provide high quality training for staff in all school settings. The focus was ensuring equality of opportunity and inclusion for learners with additional needs.
Suzanne has worked for over 30 years in specialist settings advocating for adults and young people with SEND. She has been successful at leading schools, colleges and adult settings to become highly effective organisations, also contributing to the development of specialist educational services locally through focus groups and working parties, countrywide through DfE action groups; and internationally in Moscow and Japan.
Mark Ryder – Director of Children’s Social Care.
Mark started his career as a qualified Social Worker and was then a Care Inspector for 11 years, 7 of which with Ofsted. In 2014 he joined the SENAD Group as Head of Care at Alderwasley Hall School and was part of the team in getting the care provisions to ‘Outstanding’ at both the Lower and Upper School sites for three successive years.
Mark has since worked with a large SEN provider as their Senior Regional Operations Manager where he was the Responsible Individual for 5 children’s homes and led on compliance for a further 27 homes. He was also the National Lead Safeguarding Manager for this group and more lately, he leads the care division with a group specialising in SEN and EBD children’s homes in the Midlands area.
Mark has successfully registered a number of specialist homes and received good and outstanding Ofsted grades for newly created and developing services. He is committed to excellent outcomes for young people and is a strong advocate for them, Mark brings a wealth of experience to the role and is looking forward to meeting with and supporting both previous and new colleagues.
The SENAD Staff Awards celebrate excellence in the quality of service we provide by recognising those individuals that go the extra mile to make a difference to the lives of those who we educate, care and support. The awards are open to all employees across the group. The award categories have been created to reflect outstanding contribution in the variety of roles across the company.
Award categories:
· Support Worker Award (Adult)
· Support Worker Award (Children)
· Business Support Award (Admin, HR, Training, Marketing, Referrals & IT)
· Newcomer Award
· Manager Award
· Frontline Leader Award
· Making A Difference Award—Learning
· Making a Difference Award—Community Cohesion
· Making a Difference Award—Environment
· Making a Difference Award—Health & Well-being
· Support Services (Housekeeping, Catering & Transport)
· Outstanding Contribution
Staff and children at Maple View School in Derby are starting the new academic year with a fantastic Ofsted Education Inspection report. The inspection, which took place at the beginning of July was the schools first education inspection and achieved an overall Good grade, with the Quality of Education getting an Outstanding grade.
Maple View School, which is one of 6 schools operated by the SENAD Group, opened in June 2020 and works with children aged 6 to 16 years of age with Autism and associated complex special needs including communication.
Inspectors praised the school for offering each child an individualised curriculum which is ambitious, broad and well-planned and the expertise of the teachers in adapting the curriculum for each individual child to ensure learning is embedded and learning targets are met if not exceeded. Children follow individualised curriculum pathways, either semi-formal or subject-specific, according to ability, with EHCP Outcomes and preparation for life after Maple View at the core of their pathway.
Children are grouped with compatible peers based on development cognition levels and not necessarily chronological age. The multi-disciplinary teams work together to support development and learning through the establishment and tracking of Learning Intentions.
Children engage in classroom-based learning, including daily literacy, numeracy and PSHE activities. In the afternoons they can access horticulture and small animal care, cooking, Forest School and community-based activities and have the opportunity to work with children from other classes. There is a strong focus on creativity and well-being, with music at the start of the day and yoga to close. A half-termly book, accessible to all, is the focus of whole-school cross-curricular planning, encompassing the areas of music, art, literacy, science and the humanities. It also supports reading at all ages.
The inspectors also praised the skills of the specialist therapy staff and their ability to increase the communications skills and confidence of the children at the school.
