Exciting plans in place to rebuild one of Hertfordshire’s special schools
The Valley School in Stevenage is a special school currently offering places to 153 pupils with learning difficulties, autism, speech, language and communication needs.
We are delighted to confirm that Hertfordshire County Council plans to completely rebuild The Valley School by the end of 2022 when it will be able to accommodate 165 young people. We spoke to Corina Foster, Headteacher of Valley School.
"The Valley School is not a set of buildings. It is a family of adults and young people who share a commitment to valuing difference and uniqueness. It is a family where we delight in celebrating achievement and liberation from low expectations. We work closely with families to give every pupil the chance to have life chances and life choices that are beyond what others sometimes expect.
For many years, our Valley family has not had a good place to call home. We have created something very special and become the school of choice, supporting our own pupils and pupils in neighbouring schools to have the very best. But our location has continued to let us down. We are delighted that we can now look forward to having a home that fits our needs and allows us to have complete focus on doing the very best for our pupils, rather than fighting a set of aging and decrepit buildings.
I am very excited to be in at the start of the design process. I have designed it so many times in my head, although I still don't know exactly what it will look like. I still don't know how the building process will work. But I know, without any doubt, how it will feel. It will feel safe, liberating, inspirational, joyous, unique. It will be a place where real learning continues to be at the heart of all that we do. It will be The Valley School of the future.
It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work, but it is worth every moment."
Corina, we all wish you the very best!
Struggling at school? Just take one step at a time
No one wants to see a child fail or not attend school because of poor mental health.
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Managing a full day at school can be challenging for many SEND children and in some cases for these children, returning to school after lockdown, has created additional issues for them to cope with.
How does a family cope? Jack's mum (not his real name) shares their story here.
"Jack is 13, has a diagnosis of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia and attends a mainstream secondary school. Earlier this year, Jack almost hit rock bottom - he became overwhelmed, distressed and unable to cope at school, lost all self-confidence and self-esteem and his mental wellbeing became an issue.
Jack has always been a happy child but has struggled significantly over the past year as he now becomes more aware of his difficulties and how they impact on his learning and everyday life. He was really struggling in a mainstream school environment with 1,200 students. We needed help to get some support in place and referrals were made to relevant services.
The school has been fantastic. The SENCo and his Head of Year have been so helpful and supportive and we all work together to support Jack. Realistic goals were set, in terms of the work he could complete at home and we made sure that looking after his mental health was the key focus. Depending on how Jack was feeling and how many people were around at the time, going out for a walk each day was one of our main priorities, even if it was only for five minutes.
Then came Covid-19 and Lockdown. Despite all the negative impacts of the pandemic, lockdown actually brought some peace for Jack. It gave him time and relief to be at home each day, in a safe, quiet place where everything was more predictable and so he felt settled.
Over lockdown, we applied for an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) for him and as part of that, he had an HCC Educational Psychology assessment. We were extremely lucky with the assessment and the support the Educational Psychologist provided. She went above and beyond to try and build bridges and connect with him, as he was finding the whole process difficult and overwhelming. She was also supportive to our family and offered some very good advice and strategies. She advised that although the hope is that he would return to school full time in September, we should be aware that he may not be able to, or that if he did manage for a while, he may still struggle to maintain it. As he had been struggling pre-Covid, we would need to plan carefully for this and take one step at a time.
Jack was extremely anxious about returning to school in September and found it very difficult, even with the extra support in place. He wanted to go back to see his friends but just could not cope. He could manage a whole day at school but then become very distressed in the evening, unable to cope. The next day he would go to school and we were called to come and collect him at 9.30am, as he was unwell, extremely anxious and needed to come home. Because he was not coping, I spoke to the school about a short-term, part-time, timetable. They agreed and we worked together, with my son, to put a plan in place. He started attending mornings only, building up to staying for lunch (his choice) and then completing a couple of full days each week at school.
It has made a huge difference, as he is now able to cope in school, knowing that some days he only has the morning lessons and that is enough. He needed the return to school broken down into smaller, more realistic steps that he could cope with. Long term obviously the goal is for him to return to school full-time. He wants to remain at his current school. It has worked for him and our family, as he is going to lessons, is happier and building up his attendance to attend fulltime.
For children who cannot cope – work with the school, take smaller steps to get back into full time education. Each child is different and by working with the school, a personal and suitable plan can be found to help your child."
Hertfordshire’s Local Offer has lots of information about all types of support and help groups – visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/localoffer
Home schooling or Elective Home Education?
During the months of lockdown, schools were closed to most pupils and children were 'home-schooled' (educated at home).
This is not the same as Elective Home Education (EHE). EHE is when a parent chooses not to send their child to school full-time and assumes responsibility for making sure their child receives a full-time education other than at school. Some children are electively home educated from age 5 and may never attend school. In other cases, a child may be removed from their school’s roll for EHE.
Last month, the Department for Education (DfE) published advice for parents considering Elective Home Education (EHE). The advice makes clear the distinction between home-schooling, during the period where schools were closed due to the pandemic and EHE. The advice also highlights the implications of withdrawing children and young people from school and the challenge involved in providing EHE.
The DfE advice is designed to be shared with parents, schools, social workers and local authorities (LAs), where the option of EHE is raised.
You can find the advice here: https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/20/all-you-need-to-know-about-home-schooling-and-elective-home-education-ehe/
Parents schooling their children at home will find helpful online learning resources from the Oak Academy at https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist
Child health and development reviews
Health and development reviews for 1-year olds and 2-2½ year olds were put on hold in March 2020.
This means that until March 2021 many reviews will be delayed for approximately four months. In the meantime we are managing this backlog and delivering a catch-up programme.
The Health Visiting service, from August 2020 was in a position to resume offering health and development reviews for all one year olds.
The Health Visiting service, working in partnership with Family Support Services, will resume the 2-2½ year old health and develop reviews from September 2020.
Parents will be contacted in the near future by letter.