Percy Hedley Foundation

Children's Residential Service

Percy Hedley Foundation Schools provide weekly residential education and respite care for up to 26 children and students. We have a post 16 residential training unit for 9 students where young people are able to learn and apply their functional independence skills. Our primary aim is to make each child's stay a positive, enjoyable and beneficial experience. Close contact between our care staff with parents, teachers and therapists builds on the work done in school and at home. We aim to encourage the children towards independence, dignity and respect for themselves and others, and to give them the opportunity to make choices whenever possible.

Respite Care

We offer respite care to children who attend Percy Hedley Foundation Schools on a daily basis. We provide residential summer schools and occasional respite weekends each term. Any parent wanting to take advantage of this service should contact their child's head teacher who will help to apply for funding.

Staffing

The Percy Hedley Foundation employs a team of well-qualified care staff to meet the needs of the children during their time away from home. At night, a member of staff is awake to check on the children and, if necessary, can call on other staff who sleep on the premises.

Accommodation

Children's residential services operate on two sites. At the Northern Counties School in Newcastle we provide purposebuilt residential accommodation for 12 children with their own kitchen, dining room and lounge. We also have a separate newly refurbished residential independence training unit for post-16 students.

Our children's residential unit in Leybourne Avenue is situated one mile from the Percy Hedley Primary School and just 200 metres from our senior school and provides accommodation over two floors.

The first floor comprises sleeping accommodation and bathroom areas and is divided into a girls and boys wing. Most children have a bedroom to themselves but there are some twin rooms for children who prefer to share. Each bedroom has its own private washing facility. The bathrooms range from standard through to specialised baths.

On the ground floor there is a spacious living area, a dining room, a TV/quiet room, a games area and an independence-training kitchen. Boys and girls are free to mix and socialise in these areas. Outside there is a large private lawn which enables all the children to be outdoors in a safe accessible environment.

New Garden

Children at Leybourne are very excited about their new garden and will benefit enormously from the safe, stimulating and vibrant environment. The garden will provide exciting experiences to encourage independence and social communication, as well as the opportunity to learn new skills, such as planting seeds, tending plants and learning how to maintain the garden throughout the year.

Find out more about the development of the new garden at Leybourne ...

Activities

Each child is encouraged to take part in evening activities and outings. Staff are available to assist the children with their homework if required. Some of the activities include pool/snooker, swimming, cinema visits, football, shopping trips, guides, scouts, sports and social clubs, drama, theatre visits etc.

Post 16 students follow individual intensive independence training programmes which are accredited through the ASDAN award scheme. We aim to fully involve the students in putting their programme together whilst still making sure that these sessions are fun and rewarding.