Secondary
The Secondary departments are located at Pembury Road., Tunbridge Wells. The Head of Education is Mr Gordon Tillman.
We take into account pupils’ individual needs in the way we present teaching and learning activities, and celebrate individual achievement and attainment. We believe every child matters and we provide fun and enjoyment in many extra curricular activities, we aim to make the children feel safe and secure at school and we aim to improve their economic well being. Throughout the school there is an emphasis on the development of skills for social and independent living.
There is a daily regular time for reading in school and a home school reading support system. For many secondary pupils there are also sessions using the Social Use of Language Programme (SULP), organised by speech and language therapists and taught by teachers and learning support assistants.
We use a wide range of teaching methods including visual strategies, active teaching methods and learning through experience– because we know they work well. Some children also benefit from teachers’ use of individualised strategies, for example: PECs, TEACCH and Makaton.
In the secondary department the form tutor is the key person responsible for all aspects of the pupils’ education and for monitoring each pupil’s progress. For particular pupils, there is one to one support from our speech and language therapists, but many of the Learning Support Assistants have a specialist support role with groups or individual pupils working to deliver particular programmes and targets.
All pupils also have targets that will help their personal and social development, their communication skills and behaviour.
We are fortunate to have extensive grounds with a huge variety of mature trees and shrubs. We use the grounds for games, for studying the local environment, rural science, pond life, for outdoor activities, recreation and play.
Ninety five places are available in the secondary department.