Ages
If your child has communication difficulties, it’s highly likely that you will be putting gains in speech and language higher on your wish list than a GCSE certificate, because when language is compromised, so is all learning. In comparison with other schools, this one offers the riches of Croesus in terms of speech therapy provision. The school building is a pleasant environment and has bang up to date facilities. Complete the picture with a head who has used a speech therapist’s vision to create an education model that really works for these kids, who is on top of every detail, and who is even nice to deal with – it’s like you’ve pulled a three-line match on a one-armed bandit.
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Overview & data
- Pupil numbers
- 309 ·
- Religion
- None
- Local authority
- London Borough of Merton
- SEN provision
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· ASD
· SLCN
· SpLD
Headteacher
Principal
Mrs Joanna Burgess
Since 1989, Joanna (Joey) Burgess. A speech and language therapist by profession, she founded the school, initially with four pupils, in her grandmother’s house. Trails a wake of swooning parents pinching themselves at their luck in finally findin
Entrance
The biggest entry point is in year 7, ‘after a primary has made clear this child is not going to cope in mainstream’. There is also a steady stream joining in years 8 and 9 after a mainstream secondary has proved a disaster.
A lot of famili
- Open days
- Visits and assessments by arrangement. Please phone the school.
Exit
The majority stay on from the primary into the secondary school, although a few will go to a specialist residential school. Around 40 per cent leave after GCSEs. The post-16 pathway is emerging as increasingly academic, with students gaining place
Latest results
We do not publish results data for special schools. Find out more.
Teaching & learning
Children need to be within the broad average cognitive range, but the head acknowledges that ‘sometimes it is difficult to be specific about what is a result of cognitive impairment, and what is the impact of communication difficulties and anxiety
- Qualifications taken in 2024
- BTEC
- GCSE
Learning support & SEN
Arts & extracurricular
There’s a great range of overseas and offsite trips – students have jetted off to Barcelona and Valencia. There’s a year 6 trip to an activity centre, and students can take the DofE award. ‘My son has loved the opportunities he has had at the scho
Sport
All the usual sports, with matches arranged against both other special schools and mainstreams. ‘My son is really interested in sport and he has been given the opportunity to represent his school at five-a-side matches with other schools as well a
Ethos & heritage
When it outgrew the grandmother’s house, the school moved twice before finally moving in 2015 to the Motspur Park site. You’ll be struck immediately by how spacious and perfectly presented it is. It was redeveloped from a former office block, whic
Therapy & staffing
Large in-house therapy team comprises 25 speech and language therapists (not all full-time), seven OTs, a physio, child psychotherapists, plus a team of art, drama and music therapists. Each class group has an assigned speech and language therapis
Pastoral care, inclusivity & discipline
The slippery process to getting this type of specialist provision means that inevitably many children arrive here after a torrid time in mainstream, convinced that they are stupid and unworthy, and feeling stressed and angry. There’s a separate ar
Pupils & parents
The school is heavily weighted to seniors, with only one-third of pupils in the primary department - the result of lengthy struggles to get children into this type of provision. Families cover all socio-economic backgrounds – but with a leaning to
Money matters
It is possible to self-fund, but around 90 per cent of children are local authority funded.
The last word
If your child has communication difficulties, it’s highly likely that you will be putting gains in speech and language higher on your wish list than a GCSE certificate, because when language is compromised, so is all learning. In comparison with o
