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Bettridge is a community special educational needs school with 100 places for pupils from 2-19 years who are not able to thrive in a mainstream setting because of their severe learning difficulties. All children attending Bettridge have learning difficulties. Some also have additional physical or sensory disabilities and a number of pupils demonstrate autistic spectrum disorder..
The School is divided into three departments to enable curriculum delivery and social expectations to be age-appropriate to the pupils. Children from two to five years attend the Assessment Centre, usually on a part-time basis. Many children in this age group have a wide range of needs and benefit from a structured pre-school programme and on-going assessment by multi-professional team. Pupils may stay within the main school from the age of 5 years to 16 years as long as the school continues to fulfil their individual needs. The school has a post 16 unit for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties.
To meet the needs of pupils, classes are small with between six and nine pupils working with a teacher and at least two or three teaching assistants. Additional staff may also support classes in which pupils have a complex range of needs.
Bettridge has been judged as outstanding for the quality of its work in the last 3 inspections. In June 2001 Bettridge was recognised as a Beacon School for its work with children with learning difficulties. The school received additional funding to share its expertise with others. From September 2001 a programme of planned activities has been in place to support both mainstream and other special schools. This work focuses on providing access to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum for those with severe and complex difficulties. It now forms part of Gloucestershire Outreach Service and is enhanced by the work of our two advanced skills teachers. This experience has led to the school's designation as one of the first specialist SEN schools nationally (Learning & Cognition).
As a community special school, Bettridge is run by the Governing Body and Headteacher under the aegis of Gloucestershire Local Authority. The School has a fully delegated budget that it is responsible for managing in order to meet the needs of its pupils.
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We're in!
Despite the best efforts of the snow we are now all in our completed new building. Staff were in school moving all the equipment on 4th and 5th January. The children are really enjoying all the extra space and fabulous facilities and it is great to have everyone in the same building after the last few months. The next step is to complete the initial phase of the outside areas by April 2010. This will include play facilities for the children and much needed parking for staff, parents and visitors.
A reminder that we need to raise a considerable sum to complete the work outside with the full range of activities and equipment. Any help is always welcome. If you have any ideas or would like to help us with this then please contact Mary Saunders, Headteacher, at the school.
SEN Specialist Schools
In June 2006 Bettridge was one of the first special schools nationally to be designated part of the Specialist Schools programme for SEN provision. Its specialist area is learning disability. Through the programme the school makes ‘leading edge’ provision for its own pupils and works with mainstream school partners and the community to increase the capacity and awareness of the needs of those with learning disabilities.
Read the Headteacher's Summary of Year 1 and Year 3 by clicking on the link. This will open a new page where you can also download the complete reports
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