West Kirby School and College A GSG School
- West Kirby School and College
Meols Drive
West Kirby
Wirral
Merseyside
CH48 5DH - Head: Ms Sian Thomas
- T 0151 632 3201
- F 01516 320621
- E schooloffice@wkrs.co.uk
- W www.wkrs.co.uk/
- A special independent school for pupils aged from 5 to 19 with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, autism, ADHD, and complex needs.
- Boarding: Yes
- Local authority: Wirral
- Pupils: 95; sixth formers: 19: 16 boys, 3 girls
- Religion: Does not apply
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 2
- 1 Short inspection 9th December 2021
- 2 Full inspection 29th January 2013
Short inspection reports only give an overall grade; you have to read the report itself to gauge whether the detailed grading from the earlier full inspection still stands.
- Previous Ofsted grade: Outstanding on 28th January 2008
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
A calm, safe sanctuary for those that need it. They are getting the best out of their students and improving lives and confidence levels to such an extent that many go on to success once they leave – some pupils even making such progress that they return here as staff. We loved the respect given to pupils through a student council which truly has teeth – students have implemented cooking their own evening meals and when they wanted Chinese and Polish on the curriculum...
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What The Good Schools Guide says
Principal
Since 2020 Ms Sian Thomas CEO and Principal
Entrance
All children are assessed by the school before a place is offered. Parents can look around before applying for a place. If boarding is being offered the school will usually make a home visit. A new pupil, whatever their age, will have an eight week induction period to assess where they should be in the school. Pupils are turned away if it is felt they do not meet the entrance criteria and alternatives are advised. ‘We represent the child so if we are not suitable we will say so,’ said the head. The school has the capacity for 125 pupils.
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
Pupils have complex special needs and are recognised by their Local Authority as having social, medical, emotional and behavioural problems. Medical conditions include Asperger's Syndrome. An initial six week assessment is carried out for all new pupils. The school offers high quality accommodation in school and covers all curriculum areas. Therapy services include a Behaviour Support Team, Speech and Language, Physiotherapy and an Educational Psychologist. The school is ideally situated for outdoor pursuits and cultural experiences, its main aim being to provide a stable, caring and stimulating environment within which pupils can come to terms with their difficulties and reach their full potential. Approximately one third of the pupils attend on a weekly boarding basis or make regular overnight stays. Our last Ofsted inspection reported, 'This is an excellent school. The standards pupils achieve are very high. As a result of its excellent ethos, it very successfully transforms pupils’ attitudes to work and life and their disposition to learn. Its emphasis on their personal development is exceptional and means that pupils’ personal achievement is very good.'
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | |
| Dyspraxia | |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | Y |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment |
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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