Proposed Post-16 SEND Campus in Kingston
Achieving for Children (AfC) and Kingston Council are working with Orchard Hill College & Academy Trust (OHC&AT), which runs Bedelsford School, Dysart School, St Philip’s School and Orchard Hill College, to progress an exciting proposal for a new post-16 SEND campus in Kingston.
We want to keep you informed on progress and we will update this website with more information as it becomes available. If however you have any questions or feedback regarding the proposal please email rtucker@orchardhill.ac.uk . For more information on OHC&AT please visit the website www.ohcat.org
On 27 September 2021 a meeting took place with parents, Principals of the Schools and College and representatives of AfC and OHC&AT to gather their views on the proposal. Please see below the documentation from that meeting:
The provision will be for 16 – 25 year olds, however we would expect most young people to have transitioned into employment or training by the age of 21 or 22
Our ideal would be the Kingston town centre area in order to access all the benefits of the town centre community to enhance the school day. We will let parents/carers and students know as soon as a suitable site has been secured.
The specification for the facilities is being developed. We hope that the site will have good outdoor space for a variety of activities and nearby access to community spaces, e.g. parks, leisure.
We will include opportunities for parents and students to have input in the specification for the campus facilities.
For co-dependent young people, there is a separate project led by Kingston Council’s Adult Services which would look to establish supported accommodation within the borough, in the wider context of an ongoing review of services for adults with learning disabilities.
The greater proportion of young people would be in the 16–19 range with more specialist provision for 19 onwards. During the school day, young people and staff would use the campus facilities. During the evening, over the weekend and in holiday periods, it is proposed that the wider community, most particularly services for adults with learning disabilities, would use the facilities for training and information, advice and guidance sessions.
This is very useful feedback, which will help to inform the specification.
We will include opportunities for parents and students to have input in the specification for the campus facilities.
The provision would be run by OHC&AT. It would be a Campus with a College Centre with satellite classes for the three special schools. AfC will commission the placement of students at the campus.
Yes. Our young people have already expressed that they are very keen to have a variety of clubs for their interests.
Yes. For college, the educational offer is over four days, i.e. Monday–Thursday, and on Friday we offer a full day enrichment provision. The education offer is 24 guided learning hours per week. There would also be a holiday programme, which would be contained away from any separate community use of facilities during those periods.
The eligibility for transport will not change. The ability to travel independently came out clearly as an aspiration for our young people in the AfC consultation sessions, but eligibility for transport will remain the same as it is now.
This is a useful suggestion. Once we have the business case approved it would be very helpful to have a group of parents and young people we could have regular conversations with for the planning phase.
We understand that good communication is really important for parents and we will have a dedicated page on each school website to provide up to date information. Once a site has been identified for the campus, timescales will be clearer and we will relay this to you as soon as we can.
Each of the three schools and the college would have separate areas on the campus and each would be responsible for their own provision.
The college has similar co-located provision with other schools across OHC&AT, at Hillingdon and Wandsworth. OHC&AT has engaged with the Regional Schools Commissioner (part of the DfE) on this proposal.
We are aiming for a maximum of 150 but realistically it will start smaller and grow incrementally as demand grows.
We very much see it as a local provision for local families and if there is capacity it will be offered for bordering authorities.
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