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  • Ravenscliffe High School and Sports College
    Skircoat Green
    Halifax
    West Yorkshire
    HX3 0RZ
  • Head: Mrs Chris Lingard
  • T 01422 358621
  • F 01422 329621
  • E admin@ravenscliff….calderdale.sch.uk
  • W www.ravensclif…lderdale.sch.uk
  • A special state school for pupils aged from 11 to 19 with severe and profound learning difficulties, physical disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and behavioural difficulties
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Calderdale
  • Pupils: 253; sixth formers: 89
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 2
    • 1 Short inspection 19th October 2022
    • 2 Full inspection 28th November 2012

    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 23rd January 2008
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

School has several gifted and talented crews in performing arts, such as the wheelchair dancing crew, which meet weekly and perform throughout the year including at the school’s biennial celebratory concert at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax. The real jewel in the crown is the Cafe @ the Track. This community cafe, led by a BBC cook of the year award winner, provides work experience for Ravenscliffe pupils as well as a meeting place for students, staff and the local community. New focus session introduced after morning registration to hone in on personal objectives and allow for ...

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What The Good Schools Guide says

Head

Since September 2020, Chris Lingard, previously head of a special school in Pendle.

Entrance

Placements made by the local authority to students with EHCPs. Most students come from one of Calderdale's two primary special schools, Highbury and Woodbank, but some from mainstream schools or establishments outside the authority (typically Bradford or Kirklees). School has not had to help parents with tribunals for placement.

Transition arrangements include: weekly visits from staff to students in their own school; group visits to Ravenscliffe across the summer term; parent coffee mornings; weekly cycling at Ravenscliffe in summer term; deputy head attends the pupils’ annual review.

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

We are Calderdale's only secondary special school, and cater for pupils with a wide range of special educational needs, including: moderate and severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorders, sensory impairment, and physical disabilities. A small percentage have identified moderate emotional and behavioural difficulties. Well-qualified teachers and support assistants deliver the curriculum, to groups, in which favourable staff to student ratios are maintained. The organisation of the school reflects that of a mainstream secondary school, with students predominantly taught in chronological year groups and all National Curriculum subjects offered, plus personal, social, health and citizenship education, careers advice and opportunities for work experience or post school preparation activities. The school also operates specialised needs based communication groups, in which students focus on the development of a range of skills from non-verbal and verbal functional communication, to reading, writing and comprehension. These extend into needs based literacy, numeracy and ICT sessions within key stage groupings. Great emphasis is placed on students becoming involved in the community, visiting local shops and places of interest and developing independence skills by using public transport with appropriate levels of support from staff. Inclusion opportunities are actively promoted and supported. Some students may spend time working collaboratively with mainstream peers, or attend sessions at other local schools or colleges. The school's Springboard programme provides some students with vocational experience opportunities and intensive staff support during extended workplace placements. The aim of Ravenscliffe High School and Sports college is: 'To recognise and respond to the individual needs of its students and provide them with a relevant and challenging curriculum whilst working closely with parents and carers.' We aspire to achieve this by: providing a positive, well resourced learning environment staffed by trained and committed professionals; encouraging students to develop a positive attitude to learning through the celebration of success and achievement; maintaining high expectations in terms of attendance, behaviour and co-operation in learning; providing a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, including the National Curriculum, which excites and challenges students; ensuring a safe and caring environment where individual views on religious and cultural issues are respected as students develop into responsible citizens; working closely with parents, carers and the local community and managing the funding and resources available in an effective and efficient manner.

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder Y
Aspergers
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders Y
CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia
Dyslexia Y
Dyspraxia Y
English as an additional language (EAL) Y
Genetic
Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory
Has SEN unit or class
HI - Hearing Impairment Y
Hospital School
Mental health
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty Y
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment Y
Natspec Specialist Colleges
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
PD - Physical Disability Y
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty Y
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health Y
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication Y
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty Y
Special facilities for Visually Impaired
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty Y
VI - Visual Impairment Y

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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