The school is set in a beautiful 60-acre site with views of the Marlborough Downs and the spire of Christchurch immortalised by John Betjeman in the Old Town of Swindon. Churchfields is a vibrant learning community of over 1100 students between the ages of 11 and 16.

Established in 1964, Churchfields has a long tradition of providing high quality education and benefits from superb buildings and facilities. Our core purpose is to provide a high standard of education and care across all years and so prepare our students for their future careers.

Churchfields works closely with its local community of primary schools and its local residents and has a clear focus on continuous improvement. The school is innovative in its approach to education and has attracted a number of awards recognising the quality of education that it provides for its students. The school is part of the Department of Education and Skills Pathfinders Project which focuses teachers on improving the learning experience. In 2002 Churchfields was awarded the Healthy Schools Award for its work on improving both the learning and local environment.

We strive to provide an excellent education and respond to the individual needs of each student. We recognise the unique contribution which each member of the school has to make to the quality of life in the school as a whole. We promote the highest standards of school discipline and school uniform and help every individual to make the most of his or her ability.

A distinctive characteristic of the school is its friendly and purposeful atmosphere. The special relationship that we forge between home and school enables us to work together to provide the best possible education and personal development for our students. Churchfields actively encourages a strong parental involvement and our detailed reporting procedures ensure that parents are fully informed about their child’s progress.

When children enter Churchfields School, they are joining a very distinctive learning community, a community made up of students, staff, parents, governors and our educational partners across Swindon. Our strong links with our partner primary schools ensures a smooth transition from primary to secondary.

We are very proud of the young people who leave Churchfields at the end of their time with us. Increasing numbers of students are progressing into college and university education. Click here for our Admissions procedure.

A child has special educational needs (or additional educational needs - AEN) if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child has a learning difficulty if they:

• Have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age;
• Have a disability, which either prevents or hinders the child from making use of the educational facilities of a kind, provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local authority.

Nationally, about 20% of children may have some form of additional educational needs (AEN) at some time.

The Additional Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) coordinates the support within the school and identifies individuals students' needs. The school has a wide range of support programmes.

The core purpose of our Student Support Service is to promote the successful inclusion of all students with additional educational needs.

We are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all of our students what ever their needs or abilities. We value the contribution that every child can make and welcome the diversity of culture, religion and intellectual style. We seek to raise achievement of the whole community and remove barriers to learning. As such one of the most important initiatives for this department is ensuring that AEN is a matter for the school as a whole. All teachers need to become teachers of students with AEN. We want to ensure that our department is integral in helping staff work with youngsters within mainstream, where ever possible, rather than use the service as a way of removing students from main stream education.

The Student Support Service has a KS3 Student Support Co-ordinator and a KS4 Student Support Co-coordinator. Our aim has been to develop two suitably qualified teams that have the skills and expertise to identify and address the needs of the individuals at a particular Key Stage. This faculty is also involved in developing successful transition procedures and monitoring for students that have been withdrawn from specific lessons as we do recognise that in meeting the individual needs of some specialist programmes are a necessary requirement.

We believe that as a service designed to support students we must ensure that all students receive their entitlement of a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum. We want all students with additional educational needs to be taught for most of the week with their peers in mainstream classes by subject teachers and to study the appropriate curriculum.

Inclusion means young people and adults with disabilities and/or learning difficulties being included in mainstream society. Inclusive schools help the development of communities where all people are equally valued and have the same opportunities for participation. Inclusion is an on-going process, not a fixed state.

Individual Education Plans
The Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a document for teaching staff to plan
the education for children with special educational needs.

An IEP is a planning, teaching and reviewing tool. It should include what and how a child should be taught, although only needs to record that which is additional to or different from the curriculum for all children.

The IEP should be accessible and easy to understand, and should include
information about:

• short-term targets set for or by the student;
• teaching strategies to be used;
• provision to be put in place;
• when the IEP is to be reviewed;
• success criteria and/or exit criteria;
• outcomes to be recorded.

Reviews of IEPs should not be confused with the Annual Review of a
Statement of special educational needs, although the current IEP will be
part of that review.