Farney Close School

Farney Close is a company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity with the Charity Commission, registered number; 307024. A Board of Governors governs the school and a Board of Directors is in place and oversees the running of the Company. A Board of Trustees ensures that the expectations of the Charity Commission are adhered to. The school’s charitable status means that it is a non-profit making organisation and so all excess funds are used to develop the school’s provision.

Within the school the senior management team is made up of the Head, the Deputy Head, the Care Manager and the Company Secretary.

The Head has been in place since January 2000 and worked in special education for the last 32 year.
The Deputy Head has been in place since 1999 and worked in both mainstream education and special education for the last twenty six years.
The Care Manager has been in place since 1999 and worked in special education and care for the last twenty seven years.
The Company Secretary has been in place since 1993 and has run a range of successful personal businesses.

What makes it possible for Farney Close to work effectively with children who have such a wide range of needs ?

Farney Close offers a high degree of consistency, safety and stability to the pupils it works with. It has clear boundaries and expectations of behaviour that are reasonable and fair, but at the same time challenging. All packages put in place to support pupils, whether educational or social care, are personalised and based on the identified needs of the child. The school runs a clearly defined provision that has been highly praised by pupils, parents and inspectors. There are a large number of strong, experienced staff who are both caring and knowledgeable within their fields to support pupils in all areas of school life. Because of the wide range of pupil needs we see training as very valuable tool, looking to increase staff skills, knowledge and understanding to support pupils development. At all times we look to develop pupils educational and independence skills and to make them aware of their personal and social responsibilities. Learning, whether it is social or educational, takes place in small groups and is laid out step by step, in bite size chunks, in order for it to be effective and clear.

Local Authority Education and/or Social Care departments normally refer pupils to school. However, we will accept referrals from other agencies provided they can fund the place and the child has a Statement of Special Educational Need. At the moment the school works with over 30 different Children’s Services / Authorities, who range throughout the South of England.

Under Department for Education guidance, the school is approved to accommodate 72 resident pupils (male/female) and 6 day pupils. The school is recognised by the DFE; reference number 938/6217, and is open to inspection by OFSTED in relation to its Education and Social Care provision.




General Information

Who runs the school ? Farney Close is a company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity with the Charity Commission, registered number; 307024. A Board of Governors governs the school and a Board of Directors is in place and oversees the running of the Company. A Board of Trustees ensures that the expectations of the Charity Commission are adhered to. The school’s charitable status means that it is a non-profit making organisation and so all excess funds are used to develop the school’s provision. Within the school the senior management team is made up of the Head, the Deputy Head, the Care Manager and the Company Secretary. The Head has been in place since January 2000 and worked in special education for the last 32 year. The Deputy Head has been in place since 1999 and worked in both mainstream education and special education for the last twenty six years. The Care Manager has been in place since 1999 and worked in special education and care for the last twenty seven years. The Company Secretary has been in place since 1993 and has run a range of successful personal businesses. What makes it possible for Farney Close to work effectively with children who have such a wide range of needs ? Farney Close offers a high degree of consistency, safety and stability to the pupils it works with. It has clear boundaries and expectations of behaviour that are reasonable and fair, but at the same time challenging. All packages put in place to support pupils, whether educational or social care, are personalised and based on the identified needs of the child. The school runs a clearly defined provision that has been highly praised by pupils, parents and inspectors. There are a large number of strong, experienced staff who are both caring and knowledgeable within their fields to support pupils in all areas of school life. Because of the wide range of pupil needs we see training as very valuable tool, looking to increase staff skills, knowledge and understanding to support pupils development. At all times we look to develop pupils educational and independence skills and to make them aware of their personal and social responsibilities. Learning, whether it is social or educational, takes place in small groups and is laid out step by step, in bite size chunks, in order for it to be effective and clear. Who refers pupils to the school ? Local Authority Education and/or Social Care departments normally refer pupils to school. However, we will accept referrals from other agencies provided they can fund the place and the child has a Statement of Special Educational Need. At the moment the school works with over 30 different Children’s Services / Authorities, who range throughout the South of England. Who recognises the School ? Under Department for Education guidance, the school is approved to accommodate 72 resident pupils (male/female) and 6 day pupils. The school is recognised by the DFE; reference number 938/6217, and is open to inspection by OFSTED in relation to its Education and Social Care provision. How does the school identify and evaluate its progress ? Ofsted Inspections: The school is inspected by Ofsted Social Care every year and by Ofsted Education every 3 years. On occasion they may held a joint inspection, as they did in December 2008, when they judged us to be “Outstanding” in both of these areas. We have managed to maintain this very high standard in every Ofsted inspection since 2006. Pupils’ attainment and progress: Alongside the inspection outcome indicators we keep very detailed data on pupils’ individual academic performance, staring from their admission, with a baseline assessment which looks at their National Curriculum levels of attainment in each subject. From then on, using yearly teacher assessments and external examinations, we are able to show that on average all of our pupils achieve a similar level of progress in their attainment to that of a pupil in mainstream school. At the same time our longitudinal data gathered on both our Looked After Children and our from other ethnic minorities, shows that they achieve just as well as their peers, which against the mainstream education trend, where they tend to do less well. By the end of year 11, many pupils take up to 12 examinations at either GCSE or Entry level. This represents a considerable achievement, particularly when one considers that many of our pupils have had their potential quickly disregarded by others adults and staff before they came to the school. Quality Assurance: On a yearly basis the school collects a wide range of information from pupils and parents to find out how they feel about the school. This includes finding out from pupils about bullying, about the quality of their education and care, and about how they are progressing in relation to the five Every Child Matters outcomes. We also ask parents and carers their views on the school, out of which we identify what we do to improve and to set a plan for this.

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General Information