Percy Hedley School Achieves Specialist Schools Status

Friday, 20th June 2008

It has been announced today that the Percy Hedley School in Newcastle has been awarded Specialist Schools Status by the Department of Children, Schools and Families in recognition of its staff expertise and outstanding practice.

"We are thrilled and delighted to receive this recognition of our unique contribution to special education within the North East region. We hope that this new status will enable us to support our colleagues and many more children and families who need our help"
Lynn Watson, Headteacher.

Percy Hedley is the first special school in our region to be recognised in this way for its outstanding work with children who have sensory and physical disabilities. We have drawn up a plan to help raise standards, increase provision of specialist services and share good practice, expertise and resources with schools and other groups in the wider community. The government will be providing some funding to enable our school to develop its strengths, promote innovation and spread good practice throughout our region.

This new status awarded today comes on top of our recent OfSTED inspection which judged every aspect of our work to be outstandingly effective with no key issues. Instead the OfSTED inspectors urged the school to share its outstanding practice to promote excellence in the education of children with special needs.

"Even alongside other outstanding schools it stands out as a beacon of excellence. Its commitment to developing and sharing outstanding practice is recognised nationally, and increasingly, internationally."
OfSTED January 2008.

Only this week staff from Percy Hedley School have once again travelled to Poland as part of our external training programme to work with teachers and therapists from Poland and the Ukraine funded by the EU. As a charity we want to improve outcomes for children with special needs everywhere but especially here in the North East by working in partnership with schools and local authorities. We believe that we can use the specialist skills and experience of our staff to help build on the excellent work already being done in local schools.

The school opened in 1953 for 10 children with cerebral palsy and expanding to also meet the needs of children with sensory, speech, language and communication problems we have stayed with our specialisms for the past 55 years. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne we currently have 170 pupils on our roll and offer a regional service including outreach and training in the North-East of England.

As a non-maintained special schools run by a charity we have been able to concentrate on our specialisms. Whilst many special schools have become generic as a result of public policy, the Percy Hedley School has consistently developed its expertise, knowledge, skills, and experience of working with children with particular conditions. We have been able to employ all our own staff including teachers, special support systems, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapist, teacher-conductors, psychologists and weld them into an integrated team. With the support of a consultant paediatrician we do our utmost to meet the very special complex needs of this population of children. We also give masses of moral and practical support to parents and carers who play a key role in our success in working with their children.

The Percy Hedley School offers uniquely integrated curricula, teaching, therapeutic and care programmes which ensure that children make maximum progress and families get maximum support.

The Percy Hedley School has true expertise in its field - that is what makes us outstanding. OfSTED concluded the school should share "the secret of its success". The Specialist school Status awarded to the school the today will help us to do just that.

 

The Percy Hedley Foundation, a charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne, has been offering a range of services to children and adults with cerebral palsy, sensory and communication impairments for over 50 years. Today we offer preschool provision, specialist primary and secondary schools, post 16 education, boarding and respite provision, specialist College, adult day care services, housing and specialist sports facilities. We also play a key role in providing extensive training workshops for professionals and families regionally, nationally and internationally.

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