Treloar special school in Hampshire has been awarded Specialist School status by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Treloar School for physically disabled children received its Specialist status in the Physical and Sensory strand.
According to DCSF, the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Specialist Special Schools Programme is a key part of plans to raise standards, including overall levels of attainment, in special schools, and promote greater collaboration between the special schools sector and mainstream schools.
Special schools like Treloar can specialise in one of the four areas of the SEN Code of Practice i.e. communication and interaction; cognition and learning; behavioural, emotional and social difficulties; and physical and/or sensory needs.
In exchange for extra funding, supplemented by sponsorship raised, specialist special schools develop an SEN specialism and share their expertise and resources with partner schools, support services, multi disciplinary agencies and the wider community.
In order to gain Specialist School status Treloar School had to meet a range of criteria, including showing evidence of specialist practice in teaching and learning, showing evidence that the school is promoting specialist training and development of staff and demonstrating effective outreach working with mainstream schools and the wider community,
The achievement was celebrated at Treloar School on Friday 25th September 2009. Many visitors including partner local schools took part in the day, which culminated in a gathering where 30 individually designed letters were brought together to spell out "Treloar Specialist Special School". The letters were designed and made by students from many forms in the schools.
Treloar’s is a non-maintained special school for children aged seven to 16 with physical disabilities from all over the UK and overseas. The school has places for 110 residential students and up to 40 day students. One of the largest and most successful schools of its kind in the UK, its aim is quite simply to develop the talents and potential of every one of its children to help them get the best out of life. The school has been classed as "outstanding" in its most recent Ofsted inspection across education, care and therapy.
Currently, 70% of Treloar students have cerebral palsy but it welcomes children with a wide range of physical conditions, including those with associated sensory or cognitive difficulties. Around 90% of students are in wheelchairs and 40% have little or no natural speech.
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