St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Woodlands Class

Woodlands is a new part of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School and we all work closely together with an emphasis on inclusion, with every child in Woodlands also being a member of one of our primary classes. Woodlands allows children to become confident, sociable and independent learners. It is a place where individuals are celebrated.

Who is Woodlands for?

• Woodlands is for children who have Special Educational Needs and have either an Educational and Health Care Plan (EHCP) or My Support Plan (MSP) in place.
• Woodlands is for children who have consistent difficulties with social communication and interaction and/or social, emotional and mental health difficulties.
• Woodlands is for children who are cognitively able to access a mainstream curriculum but over 2 years behind their peers.
• Woodlands is for children in Year's 1 to 6.

What are our aims?

• Woodlands has an emphasis on supporting children to develop their awareness of others through increasing their social and communication skills through a provision based approach to learning.
• We aim to help children to develop an awareness of self and be able to manage their levels of stress through self-regulation.
• Woodlands aims to give children an individualised and differentiated curriculum to meet their needs.
• We aim to help children identify their own sensory triggers and find ways to minimise their effect.
• We aim to support pupils to make positive relationships with their peers.
• We aim to support children to access our busy mainstream school and classroom environment with daily teaching alongside their peers.
• Children in Woodlands will be included as fully as possible into the life of the school in order to develop their social, emotional and independence skills.
• We aim to provide experiences which promote greater independence and help children to develop important life skills.

 What provision do we make?

• Woodlands provides specialist support for up to 20 children. It is supported by 4 adults (1 teacher - Miss Wild - and 3 teaching assistants - Ms Momen, Miss Scott and Mrs Higgins).
• A dedicated space within the school for learning and regulation.
• Woodlands provides a calm and nurturing environment, providing excellent opportunities so that each child can maximise their learning potential.
• Opportunities to work individually or in small groups in this distraction free, calm environment.
• Opportunities for the children to be fully integrated into their mainstream class within St Joseph's Primary School. 
• A lead teacher who is responsible for the provision, planning, resources and supporting mainstream class teachers to plan and deliver appropriate learning of each child when they are back in their mainstream classroom.
• We offer structure to support the pupils with organising and making sense of their day using visual supports, timetables, choice boards and Now & Next boards. 
• The progress of all pupils in Woodlands is regularly assessed in relation to the National Curriculum Guidelines, using the B-Squared progression steps to support small steps of progress.
• Individual pupil outcomes are monitored at least 3 times a year including at the Annual Review of their EHCP.
• We work with specialist teachers from Bradford SCiL (Social Communication Interaction & Learning) team and also the PIVOT SEN team who also supports the Catholic Schools Partnership.

  How are places allocated?

• Admission to Woodlands is identified during pupil progress meetings when looking at levels of learning, provision in the mainstream classroom, individual needs, sensory difficulties and other areas. 
• During a review of a child's targets or EHCP Woodlands might also be identified as a resource to support the child's learning.

 How do we work together with families?

At St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, we recognise the importance of involving families in their children’s learning. We take every step to encourage effective parental involvement. Our staff are approachable and understand how essential regular communication is. 

Through termly meetings and annual reviews we work together on individual support plans and agree the best ways to meet the desirable outcomes for your child. We liaise with external agencies to consider all your child’s needs.

Here is a virtual tour of Woodlands...