RESIDENTIAL PUPILS

Penn School caters for up to 25 residential girls and boys aged 11-19 years. Residential children are in residence from Monday mornings until Friday afternoons. Parents are asked to supply adequate clothing.

The school laundry sees to the washing of your child's clothes during school time. Every care is taken in the washing of your child's clothes.

Resident pupils require at least £5 pocket money a week to cover the cost of evening outings.

A telephone and a minicom are available for the children to both make and receive telephone calls. Tel: 01494 811408. Minicom 01494 817734.

Our evening activities programme means that most people are not available until after 8:00 so phone calls are more likely to be successful after that time.

When children become residents, they can be registered with the school GP, Dr. Coggan at Penn Surgery.

OfSTED Inspection of Residential Provision Report March 2008

"The overall quality rating is outstanding.

Penn School provides a consistently high standard of care to its pupils, meeting a diverse range of special needs. The principal demonstrates strong leadership supported by a multi-disciplinary team of dedicated staff. Health and medical needs, often complex, are met through a whole school approach to ensure that pupils can access all the opportunities that the school has to offer. Emphasis is placed on supporting and enabling pupils to develop good communication skills, confidence and life skills to assist them as they prepare for adult life.

Individual needs are considered paramount as education, care and medical attention are delivered to meet each pupils identified needs, excellent documentation is produced to support this provision. Pupils clearly enjoy and value their boarding experience where they feel secure and cared for by staff who have developed some outstanding relationships with pupils."

The residential aspect of Penn School is an integral part of the educational provision. Each student is allocated a keyworker. The role of the keyworker is to support students in their educational attainments and prepare them for later life. The keyworker offers support in all areas of lifeskills to enable them to gain as much independence as possible. The 24 hour curriculum ensures continuity of education after the school day ends.

CONTACT WITH PARENTS

The school welcomes and values the views of parents and carers who frequently know the needs of their own children better than anyone. Indeed, this input is seen as vital in the creation of residential and educational programmes. Successful placements are invariably the result of close and positive working relationships developing between members of staff and parents.

Communication is generally the responsibility of the Care Team, given their availability in the evenings, and will mostly be with the identified key worker, the school nurse and, if desired, the senior staff. Young people go home at the weekends, travelling on Friday afternoons and returning on Monday morning. Parents are very welcome to visit as long as this is arranged in advance. 

ACCOMMODATION

The accommodation is situated on two separate floors, one for the male students and one for the females. There is also a self contained maisonette.

Bedrooms are single or shared and all rooms are homely. The students are encouraged to personalise their own living space with posters, pictures and their own choice of bedding.

Each area has its own lounge with television and video facilities. They can also prepare their own supper and drinks. They have access to computer and internet facilities.

ACTIVITIES

The school's philosophy is maintained through a structured series of extra-curricular activities which incorporate social and practical life-skills.
We offer outings within the local community to various sporting venues, places of interest, cinemas and theatre. We also work closely with local Youth Support Groups. In-house activities include Art and Craft, video nights, five-aside football, radio controlled cars and anything else of interest to our students.

FACILITIES AT SCHOOL

For residential pupils, there are excellent facilities including:
• Lounges
• Self contained maisonette
• Games room
• Gym
• Physiotherapy and exercise room
• Extensive playing fields
• Nature trail and environmental centre

The Care/ Lifeskills Department is run by a dedicated experienced staff team which is committed to the well-being of every student.

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND CHILD PROTECTION

At Penn School we aim to provide a culture in which young people can feel safe. Fundamental to this is the concept that young people and adults are aware of their individual rights. In particular, young people are made aware of their right to;

• Be treated with respect

• Privacy

• Have all primary care needs met

• Be enabled to learn

• Consultation over issues in relation to their care

• Have their wishes and feelings taken into account at all times

• Be enabled to develop a sense of identity

• Have their background, in terms of culture, religion and sexuality, taken into account

• Feel safe and secure

• Be supported in developing an ability to manage their own behaviour

All young people are clear about the way in which they can make a complaint if they feel that they have been treated unfairly. We ensure that they are aware of any sanctions that may have to be imposed in response to behaviours. All staff receive regular training in safe restraint techniques and are fully aware of those forms of sanctions that are prohibited.

The belief is that is a young person has concerns or anxieties, they would have developed sufficient trust in the adults working most closely with them to be able to share these. If the young person does not feel able to talk to a member of staff, there are two Independent Visitors who are able to sign, available to talk to them.

In addition, the young people are made aware of their right to report any concerns to Senior Staff and in particular to the Head of Care.

The headteacher is the designated Child Protection person in the school. The schools procedures for child protection follow the requirements of the local area Child Protection committee and the Governing Body ensures that these are being followed.

The boarding welfare of the students is monitored by the Commission for Social Care (CSCI ) on an annual basis.
 

Inspection reports are available on the internet at www.csci.org.uk

 
Contact details for the CSCI :

CSCI Aylesbury Area Office
Cambridge House
8 Bell Business Park
Smeaton Close
Aylesbury
Bucks. HP19 8JR.
Tel: 01296 737550

The provision of evening activities from 3:30pm to 8:30pm offer the waking hours curriculum input to day pupils. These include a Speech and Language Therapy session with a SALT working on social skills and the social use of language.

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