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Heartwood House is an independent school providing for young people who are either not attending school (mainstream or other) or finding continued attendance at school detrimental to their mental health.
Heartwood House provides for students studying at KS3 and KS4. On occasion they may admit a student who is chronologically outside those key stages, but whose needs are best met by studying at either of these levels (eg a year 12 student who has missed a significant amount of their secondary education and needs to gain accreditation at GCSE level).
Our expectations are that any young person referred to Heartwood House will:
It is essential that all potential referrers grasp fully the requirements of the final criterion. Heartwood House seeks to offer an environment within which students can study successfully, and develop self efficacy, a place within which they feel physically and emotionally safe at all times. The centre is small and students have to be able to work together in a supportive manner. All students must contribute positively to the environment, or, at the very least, not actively damage the learning or personal development of their peers.
Due to the highly individual nature of the provision at Heartwood House it is not considered appropriate to have blanket admissions criteria – each student should be viewed as an individual and assessed for suitability as such. It is extremely important that the admissions process should be open-minded, fair and non-judgmental.
However, there are particular “red flags” when reading a student’s paperwork that would mean that a place would usually be declined, on the basis of the second criteria above – that their attendance would be incompatible with the efficient education of others.
These red flags include:
It is important that Heartwood House does not unfairly discriminate against students and therefore the above criteria are put in place purely because of the vulnerable nature of our students. Our students, who may have experienced abuse or bullying in the past, would be further traumatised by exposure to the above and therefore the education of these students would be incompatible with the efficient education of our other students.
Referrals at Heartwood House are received and processed according to the following initial procedure.
Each student receives a person centred transition into the centre. Some students are ready to start immediately on a full time basis, some students are very anxious and may only be able to walk past the centre with their hood over their faces and take a quick peek at it – and there is a whole spectrum of presentations between these two extremes. Therefore some students receive a period of outreach home support before coming to the centre – and most students receive a graduated transition to a full time timetable.
Once a student starts attending the centre, there is a six week trial period where we have the opportunity to assess more thoroughly whether we are able to meet their needs. Some students’ needs have not been accurately assessed or documented – and some students present very different needs in the Heartwood House environment in comparison to their previous environment.
The staff team meets at the point where the student has been attending the centre for three weeks. At this point a ‘formulation’ is produced for the student, with all staff members contributing their thoughts, experiences and useful strategies they have found for that student.
This assessment and formulation is carried out at the three week point in order that alternative strategies can be tried during the six week assessment period, where this is decided to be necessary.
At the six week point, the staff meet again and decide whether it is possible to meet the student’s needs at Heartwood House and whether their needs are compatible with the needs of other students. Terminating a student’s placement at this stage would undoubtedly be very difficult for the student, but the careful initial admissions process means that this is very rare – although it is used where necessary.
Thank you for making an enquiry. We will respond as soon as possible.