|
|
St Vincent's School
for Blind and Partially Sighted Children
St. Vincent's is a non-maintained, co-educational
special school approved by the DfEE and administered by the Catholic
Blind Institute. It is the centre of excellence in the North West
of England for the education of children with a visual impairment.
St. Vincent's School is situated in the pleasant
West Derby suburb of Liverpool.
We cater for primary and secondary school children of between
4 and 17 years of age.
Mission Statement
“Inspired by the example of St Vincent, we work together in a
safe and caring atmosphere, where a high standard of education
and care are provided.
We encourage a sense of achievement, self worth, moral
responsibility and mutual respect, honouring all faith
traditions and beliefs. Each one of us in our community is
special and unique.
Gifts and talents are valued and nurtured
through all our work.
We are outward looking in our approach to the wider educational
and social community and we encourage all our young people to
become independent and to integrate fully into society.”
-
St. Vincent’s
is one of only two non-maintained special schools for Blind and
Partially Sighted children in the North of England, and is the
only Church school in England for VI children, as such we value
the religious traditions of all pupils.
-
The school caters
for pupils from 4-17 years of age, offering day, residential and
extended day placements on a weekly basis. Established in 1850,
the school has a long and successful tradition of excellence in
the education and care of Visually Impaired children.
-
St. Vincent’s
School has 42 pupils, 15 of whom are fulltime residents at the
school and five pupils are in a part time residence.
-
All pupils have a
Statement of Special Educational Need. Within recent years the
population of pupils has changed and many pupils now have
additional needs to their Visual Impairment, these include:
communication disorders, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Cerebral Palsy and Hearing Impairment.
-
Pupils are from a
wide spectrum of ethnic, socio and economic backgrounds and
need, and are drawn from 19 local education authorities from
Harrow in the South, to Cumbria in the North, Lincoln in the
East across to Liverpool and North Wales in the West.
-
The school
specialises in providing an all-round education, which aims at
maximising academic achievement, personal development and self
worth. We do this by providing high quality-learning
environments specifically adapted where necessary, to enable all
pupils to be included and to achieve as independently as
possible.
-
Our pupils achieve
to their full potential, which is demonstrated by value added
scores in the top 5%. All pupils further their education on
leaving, and are appropriately prepared for transition to attend
mainstream and Post 16 Specialist provision.
-
St. Vincent’s is a
school ‘where pupils and students flourish in the positive
climate for learning provided by the school and they make good
progress towards the challenging individual targets that are set
for them’ (Ofsted October 2005.)
-
The combination
of specialist staff expertise, strong mainstream links and
specialist resources support highly effective learning
environments for pupils with a wide range of physical, sensory
and learning needs. A New build is presently being planned this
being the natural evolvement to improving service delivery and
provision, a positive, proactive response of our commitment to
the inclusion agenda, outreach links and how we can continue to
serve as a Centre of Excellence.
-
Curriculum
provision at St. Vincent’s is broad and balanced and focuses on
both the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and
the individual needs of our pupils. Every pupil has an
Individual Education Plan and a Care Plan as appropriate at all
Key Stages; this includes Mobility, Braille, basic Numeracy and
Literacy, Technology, Music and Independent Living Skills.
Highly experienced Learning Support Assistants and Care Staff
work closely with pupils and teachers to ensure optimum access
across the 24-hour curriculum.
-
Additional special
needs are identified through baseline and ongoing assessment.
-
In addition to the
Core and Foundation curriculum, our pupils access the
‘additional VI curriculum’ that enables them to realise their
true potential that is provided for by the specialist training
that all our staff have received in visual impairment.
-
The curriculum is
enhanced by complimentary working with Specialist Therapists
these include individually planned lessons in Speech and
Language Therapy and physiotherapy together with psychological
support and Music Therapy, as appropriate.
-
The wide academic
range sees pupils achieving well at GCSE and other nationally
standardised examinations, to those whose progress is determined
at P Levels. Attainment on entry is variable, and this is
documented in each pupil’s Statement of Special Educational
Need.
-
We are an
inclusive school, working as a part of a continuum of provision,
that both compliments and contrasts the services available from
local authorities, ensuring that all individual pupils’ needs
are met
-
In September 2007
we became one of the governments ‘Specialist Schools’, our
specialism being sensory impairment.
Click here for
St.Vincent's School official website
|
