FAQs

At Brookhaven School we have designed a broad, balanced, and challenging curriculum that is tailored towards each student’s individual need, incorporating:

• Social and emotional support
• Building of confidence and self-belief
• Rigorous academic progress where appropriate
• Development of life skills
• Support from specialist therapists

Once we have got confirmation of which pupils are joining the school, we will work with Bury Local Authority to commission the necessary specialist advice set out in pupil’s Education, Health and Care Plans.

Once we have got confirmation of which pupils are joining the school, we will work with Bury Local Authority to commission the necessary therapeutic interventions set out in pupil’s Education, Health and Care Plans. Across our many specialist schools we offer a wide range of interventions driven by the needs of the pupils.

Pupils will typically work within a broadly year group based group. However, there will be opportunities to access different accreditation routes within years 10 and 11 to meet the future aspirations of the pupils. Shaw Education Trust specialist schools utilise a plethora of approaches to grouping pupils to best meet their needs. This will evolve over time at Brookhaven as we better understand the cohort of pupil. We aim to respond to pupils needs rather than be adamant about a particular approach.

We are very keen that Unsworth Academy and Brookhaven School leaders work closely together to ensure all pupils across both schools get access to the facilities and resources they need to be successful. Initially this is likely to be limited whilst Brookhaven starts its journey.

The admissions policy and the specification for the school (established by Bury Local Authority) states that the school is for pupils with Autism and / or Speech and Language communication difficulties. However, as with all specialist schools within Shaw Education Trust we will work with parents and the Local Authority to best meet the needs of pupils within the local area.

We haven’t heard who is coming to the school yet so once we know we can answer the question. The specialist schools across Shaw Education Trust have a range of approaches to how they construct the curriculum and how lessons are timetabled. This is to ensure that we meet local need.

On opening we anticipate each class of 8-10 pupils will have a teacher and two support staff. We have appointed an experienced Headteacher who will initially act as the SENCO. There will be administration and site staff to support the daily running of the school. We are interviewing for teachers at the end of October.

The accreditation and qualification suite at Brookhaven will be built to meet the needs of the pupils. Across Shaw Education Trust specialist schools we are flexible with our offer as each year group is typically very different to the last. Our aim is to offer accreditation and qualification opportunities which are useful for the pupils to be successful in their next steps. We do not believe in doing accreditations and / or qualifications for the sake of it.

The response to this question would be at individual pupils level via discussion between the pupil, parents and the Headteacher at the annual review of the pupil’s Education, Health and Care Plan.

Brookhaven School is a special school which provides 80 places for children of both sexes in the age range 11-16 with Autism and / or Speech, Language and Communication difficulties...

8-10 pupils.

We will utilise the skills of the staff that we employ to provide the best lessons we can. Due to the size of the school Teachers will inevitable teach a range of subjects but it is anticipated that as the school grows it will operate with some subject specific teachers. During the infancy of the school Teachers will have to teach a range of subjects.

We have specialist facilities upstairs at the school. For example, this means that they will typically move to the science laboratory for science lessons. The number of times a pupil moves classroom will change as the school grows in pupil number size. We appreciate that some of our pupils may struggle with transitions and as such we will work with them to enable them to be successful. We see this as helpful preparation for adulthood.

On the first floor we have designed a space that will be used as a sensory area. The initial funding of the building does not include the fitting out of this room, so we will be developing this area over time.

The admissions policy does not specify this yet. We will be working with Bury Local Authority to make this more clearer over time. The original specification for the school talked about those children who have typically had a mainstream primary education and may struggle in mainstream secondary school.

The sensory room area will be available to use when the building opens but will not be fully kitted out with all of the equipment we would like. This is due to funding constraints.

The school will have a behaviour policy that includes the potential use of physical intervention on the rare occasion it is needed. Staff will be appropriately trained to carry this out.