Enrichment

Allocations of Places at Parkwood Hall

There are many reasons why parents/carers may seek a residential placement. Parents who seek a boarding placement at Parkwood Hall Co-operative Academy do so because they appreciate the significant added value and essential difference that residential education can make for their child. In addition to academic, emotional, and social skills, children with special needs also often require support to learn the most basic life skills. The access to care, structure, and consistency of interventions during all waking hours has proven to have a positive impact in all areas of a child's development.  

A peer group of his or her own 

Our residential setting provides opportunities for students to have group interaction with their peers. The structured activity programme allows time for leisure time/activities with peers after school, giving each child many opportunities to learn critical socialization skills as well as how to effectively manage leisure time. It is a vital tool in helping students to understand what is and how to develop appropriate friendships an ability that is vital to his or her quality of life. Being part of a wider group of peers is also key in developing their communication skills e.g., regular student meetings enable the students to share opinions and to have healthy debates and discussion.

Learning for a lifetime 

Developmental disabilities and other special needs can affect all aspects of a child’s life. Self-care, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, vocational skills, and many other critical life-skills are areas that are addressed through our residential programs. They are designed to educate and develop the whole child – academically, socially, vocationally, and more – so that he or she can live life as fully as possible while at Parkwood and transfer these skills to home or further education such as Residential colleges post 19.

Communication with family, friends, and home 

For residential students spending Monday to Friday at school during a typical 6-week term means that they spend more time here than at home. This means that effective communication between a student's family and staff is vital. Parents/carers of Parkwood residential students certainly hear about their child’s successes and setbacks. This will be through regular phone or E-mail contact and at the end of every week parents will receive an overview of their child's week through written E-mail and photos of students during activities etc. Parents are encouraged to visit their child while they are at school, and many will spend the evening with their child to celebrate a birthday or just pop in if they are in the area.

Personal tutors

Each student has a member of residential staff allocated to them when they start their time as a residential student. It is their responsibility to oversee the everyday aspects of a student's time in residence. They will also ensure they have effective communication with class staff to gain knowledge and understanding of how things are going during the school day. They will be the main contact for parents/carers if there is information to be passed on from the weekend or school holidays. The personal tutor will also have input to Annual reviews, care plans and other important paperwork or meetings involving the student they are personal tutor to. Wherever possible once allocated a personal tutor will remain with a student throughout their time in residence as this helps students to build a working relationship with them that is built on having trust and confidence in them.

How we make an informed decision where each student will be placed within the residential areas.

When a new residential student is placed at Parkwood, we take several factors into account when deciding which residential area will best meet their needs:

• The students age
• Their level of ability
• Level of communication
• Social interaction level
• Medical needs
• The physical environment
• Peer group suitability
• Any risk of harm to themselves,

Example one:

On each residential area there is 1 individual bedroom separate from the others. This was originally set up as an assessment room for potential residential students on PHSE. Both rooms are large in comparison to the other bedrooms, simply due to the structure of the residential areas.

As we currently do not offer overnight assessments for students both bedrooms are now being used to meet the individual needs of students. One is occupied by a young man with medical needs that require a lot of medical equipment to be to hand and space to carry out the high level of personal care needed.

The other assessment room is currently occupied by a young lady who cannot manage being in a shared bedroom area with other students. She was struggling to settle at bedtime and was also easily disturbed by noise. Since being in a separate bedroom away from others she settles well at bedtime. This same room was occupied last year by a young man who needed to sing aloud to help him process his emotions while trying to fall asleep. Being in a room on his own where his noise level did not disturb others enabled him to do this.

Example two:

We have a day student who is due to start full time boarding after the half term. When we were looking at which residential area was best suited to meet his needs, we had to consider several factors. He is a very sociable young man who loves to be part of a bigger group and is keen to join in all activities but his ability to take turns, share and interact appropriately are limited. Initially we felt that placing him with higher need students would work but realised that he would not have an appropriate peer group socially, as many of them have limited verbal communication with very individualised programmes.

We have decided that the more suitable area will be with a small number of students who are sociable and share his love of group activities. Although socially they are developing at a higher level, we felt they would also have the ability to role model appropriate social interaction, turn taking etc for the new student.

We encourage all students to take ownership of their bedroom. They do this by personalising it with bedding of their choice, posters, family photos and anything else that puts an individualized touch to them. Each bedroom has a colourful tub chair and rug. Schedules, routines, and other visuals in place to support them are placed on their notice boards.  

 To download this as a document please click here:

Allocation-of-places.pdf