| School life at Farney Close is divided between the school day, where we offer a broad curriculum, and the non school residential period where the pupils engage in a variety of social activities. Pupil accomodation is of the highest standards, and our team includes teaching, care, catering, and auxillery staff as well as therapeutic support consultants. The sections below will tell you more about these different aspects of our school life. |
Homework is given in all core subjects (English Maths and Science) as well as in all option subjects in years 10 and 11. This is completed between 4-5pm with the help of Care staff if necessary.
Examinations are taken in every subject that the pupils study. These are at either GCSE or Entry Level and are dependant on the pupil's ability. Everyone is tested on entry to the school in order that we might determine any extra help that may be needed for examinations. Pupils will also be tested to assess the need for any specialist dyslexic help or speech and language input. The school employs specialists in both of these fields to help pupils directly as well as advising staff of relevant techniques or strategies that might help or support pupil progress.
Pupil attainment and progress is tracked in every subject, initially through baseline tests and then through either end of year exams or teacher assessment. This
Pupils from quite early on receive advice and guidance on work experience and careers advice, to prepare them for successfully leaving school and moving on. The school works closely with parents and the pupil’s local Connexion service to support this. Over the years we have been very successful at this and we have recently been awarded the Investors in Careers Award, which is rare amongst other similar special schools.
Good behaviour in classes is recognised through the school points system. Each point earned has a monetary value that increases with the pupils' age. These points are added up weekly and the pupil earns what they accumulate. There are further incentives for savers and those individuals who achieve a full week with no point's loss.
Education and Care staff work very closely together to support the school day and make all learning experiences as successful as they can possibly be.
Food:
We eat all meals in the main dining room, except supper, which is taken on the houses in the evening. We follow a healthy living menu with a variety of choices at all meals, including a vegetarian option. Our main meal is taken in the evening about 5pm, with a lighter meal of sandwiches, salad or snack type meals at lunchtime. The school has achieved the Healthy Schools Award. (See Inspections and Awards page)
A wide variety of activities are offered in the evening to cater for all tastes. Some example of the off-site activities we offer include: Swimming, Laser Quest, Bowling, Trampolining, Bouldering / Rock climbing, Archery, Scuba-diving, Canoeing, and Mountain Biking. On site, we offer activities such as Football, Table Tennis, Basket Ball, Cricket, Tennis, Jogging, Pottery, Fishing, Bingo, Choir, Karaoke, Art and Crafts, Magic Skills, Chess and Cookery. On the other hand, if a pupil just wants to spend some time doing less, they can stay on their house and chat to friends and staff.
Like any organisation that cares for children and young people, we aim to work together with their parents and carers to ensure that a high level of health care is maintained. This means that we will help them stay healthy by providing a range of physical activities and offering good dietary advice and a balanced diet. We will also administer prescribed medicines and offer good first aid and support to emergency treatment whenever it is needed. We will also ensure that a pupil is registered at our local Doctors if needed, though they can remain with their Doctor at home if that is preferable. However, because we want to make sure that we can provide the highest level of staffing possible to support the pupils at all times throughout the day, Optician, Dental and Orthodontic appointments need to be arranged by parents/carers in the home area to take place in the school holidays so as to prevent any unnecessary absence. Naturally, if a pupil becomes ill during the week with something that is contagious, or stops them accessing their education, we will make arrangements for them to go home.
We aim to keep in regular contact with parents/carers and other agencies that might be supporting a pupil, and so as part of helping to focus this each pupil will have a designated Linkworker. This person will be an RSCW on the pupil's house and will act as point of reference in virtually all matters. Parents and carers can also keep in contact with their child by telephoning in the evening, or pupils may also use the public pay phone if they wish to. End of year reports are sent out towards the end of the summer term and will contain information on a pupil's academic and social progress, as will the report for the annual statutory review, where they will also receive both written and verbal reports.
Who are the Therapists & Consultants ?
End of Keys Stage 4 - Examination Results 2009/2010
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It is intended that while at Farney Close pupils experience an education as close to that offered in mainstream as possible. That means full national curriculum, taught by specialist teachers. There are 10 class groups with a maximum of eight pupils in each class. The school is divided into 
progress is then plotted year on year and targets are set for individual improvement. 
On top of the specialised support illustrated earlier the school also provides Art therapy sessions which operate through a referral system which can be generated by either an adult or the child. There are two independent counsellors who operate in a similar way to the therapists, who offer pupils an opportunity to talk about any issues that may be bothering them. Individual 
Before and after school pupils are looked after by the Care Team, which is made up of a group of 25 Residential Social Care Workers (RSCW) of varying ages and levels of experience, most of whom have worked at Farney Close for many years. A number of the RSCW team also support the school day, helping any pupil who may be finding certain lessons or break times difficult to manage.
Pupils stay together on houses in groups of 6 or 8 and are gathered according to age and gender. Each house has 2 RSCWs, one of whom sleeps in on the house overnight so that pupils always have someone to call on if needed. To maintain stability and continuity, and to develop relationships for both the pupils and their parents and carers, the same set of RSCWs will work on each house throughout the week. 
Throughout the year we celebrate a number of cultural and religious events. For example in October each year we hold a month of Cultural awareness in recognition of the diverse group of people we have both within the pupil group and the staff team. Each November we also join in with the national Anti Bullying week which, along with many other parts of our provision, aims to give pupils a common, shared experience similar to that of other pupils in mainstream education. It also forms part of our approach to keeping incidents of bullying to a minimum and to let everyone know that it is a subject that we take very seriously.
As compared to other similar schools, the unusually high level of therapeutic provision at Farney Close reflects our commitment to meeting pupils' needs at all levels. So naturally, on a day to day level, this begins with the staff, who constantly use their knowledge and experience to guide and support the welfare of every child. 