About
Woodlands is a special school serving the needs of pupils with severe, profound and complex learning difficulties, from the ages of 3 to 19. Our response to these needs creates the very special learning opportunities of Woodlands school. We believe in life long learning and social inclusion. We aim to develop in pupils the posititive attitudes towards, and the skills of learning. We recognise the importance of being able to transfer the skills into new and varied settings. We encourage independent learning.
The school is located in a leafy green suburb of Chelmsford, within walking distance of a range of amenities offering immediate access to the community. At Woodlands we aim to develop confident and skilled learners who, as adults, will become active members of their community. We take a holistic view of our learners’ progress towards this aim by placing the cross curricular skills at the heart of the school. Our emphasis is in promoting… personal, social and health skills communication skills mathematical skills physical skills problem solving skills information and communication technology skills study skills

Nurturing Potential

The early years are crucial for learning. Every opportunity needs to be taken to enrich children's experiences. For children with special difficulties there must be an additional focus on individual needs.

At Woodlands nursery we address and promote the unique qualities of each and every child in our care.

We captivate the emergent curiosity inside every child by providing stimulating and safe environments for co-active learning. Children experience an enriching curriculum that is specially adapted to harness this learning.

Supported activities

Each child is supported to partcipate in a variety of early learning activities. These are skilfully planned to engage every child in the government's Early Learning Goals. Much of this happens through fun and discovery.

Specialist facilities

Bright and stimulating, specialist and supportive, our environment includes....

• self contained nursery suite,
• separate outdoor play areas,
• sensory room, sensory garden,
• swimming and hydrotherapy pool,
• interactive library,
• sports and movement hall,
• complex needs room

Communication

We value you knowing what we are up to-how we are teaching your children. Parents and carers receive a termly magazine, called Waves, which celebrates pupils' learning. Also, parents receive a monthly newsletter, called ParentWise. On a less regular basis, we issue something called LearnerWise, which summarises recent developments in learning techniques. parents receive termly forecasts that outline the learning their children will experience in the coming term. At the end of the year, there is a school report, illustrated with photographs.

Holistic  learning

When learning is robustly designed this way, there is a need to pull things together, to take a unified view. Wherever a pupil learns, after all, he is doing so holistically. It makes sense, therefore, for the various therapists at Woodlands to work closely with teachers. in fact, all their plans are learning plans. Multi-agency working is just one way of making this holistic view of learning a reality.

Learning to learn

Capturing and developing the curiosity and fun of learning through exploration and discovery is the essence of good teaching. Building on the foundation of the Nursery, the main school establishes the principles of how to learn. Pupils experience a variety of stimulating topics, taken from the National Curriculum.

They are challenged to focus their attention, to collaborate with their peers, to problem solve and to work as independently as possible. By making the learning activities relevant, practical and stimulating, we give pupils opportunities to make their learning personal and meaningful.

Purposeful  learning

Learning has to have a purpose, otherwise it is meaningless to pupils. At Woodlands, we ensure that pupils learn in a variety of ways and in a variety of places. After all, if you can't put your learning to use, it can't be very useful! So, we plan for pupils to transfer their learning, to use what they have learned-in other words, to give it a purpose. Equally, pupils learn not just on their own but in collaboration with their peers. This makes them ready to face the new challenges of our Further Education department.

Supported  learning

Some pupils need additional support to stimulate and develop their learning. The Learning Support Base enables pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, and more complex needs, to receive highly individual attention balanced with opportunities to be included in their age group's activities within the mainstream of the school.