6th form

STRAWBERRY LODGE

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TEAM

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POLICIES AND OFSTED

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TERM DATES

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Eagle House 6th Form (Strawberry Lodge)

A supportive route through to the adult world

Eagle House 6th Form (Strawberry Lodge) is based in 19th century house in Carshalton, Sutton, less than 10 minutes drive from the main school. It is a purpose built specialist college providing a highly specialised and personalised provision for learners, which combines academic achievement, independence skills and first steps in vocational training. Many of our learners struggle with the social challenges of attending a mainstream college but we’re here for each young person whenever they need us. Every learner is fully supported by a team of learning & work skills coaches, with their own key worker. Every learner has input from our autism specialist multidisciplinary therapy team (Curriculum Access Team), who provide group sessions or individual sessions designed specifically for our learners.

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Many of our learners attend a local college of their choice and complete a full time course across a 3-year period (Years 12 to 14). This usually consists of two days of college per week, combined with three days per week attending 6th Form, where our learners access personalised learning opportunities in order to gain further qualifications in English, maths, sports, history, music and work related learning. They also have opportunities to attend local sports facilities, shops and to continue to develop their independence and life skills.

We aim to inspire learners to move forward into adulthood with confidence, ambition, raised self-esteem and with appropriate learning experiences and opportunities behind them. We focus on preparing them for the life challenges they will face and to provide them with a clear sense of purpose and direction moving forwards.

As with their typical peers, we encourage our learners to have and believe in their aspirations and dreams.

CALL 020 8770 7788

Our Approach

Specialist Learning & Work Skills Coaches

We aim to combine the three ingredients needed to support our learners in their transition to adulthood; a supportive and therapeutic autism educational environment; tailored opportunities for vocational work experience and the right support needed to make college a success.

All learners are supported by specialist Learning & Work Skills Coaches. These are familiar faces, who already know them well and are there to support them through to the next exciting phase of their educational and vocational journey.

All of our learning & work skills coaches are trained to a Level 3 NVQ and receive additional autism-specific training throughout the academic year. Each learner has a specific learning & work skills coach key worker who they can turn to if they have any anxieties or concerns. They ensure learners are fully supported on site at Eagle House 6th Form (Strawberry Lodge); when they travel to college (if required); and within the college setting itself. Our learning & work skills coach knows when to step in with support and when to step out; this ensures that learners continue to build in confidence and further develop their independence on a daily basis.

All learners continue to receive Tier 1 therapy support (higher, if stated in their Education, Health & Care Plan) from our resident autism specialist multidisciplinary team (Curriculum Access Team).

This includes support and access to:

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Speech & language therapy

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Occupational therapy

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Assistant psychology

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Pupil wellbeing officer

a supportive route through to the adult world

building towards College

Sixth Form

Our Curriculum

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Our curriculum is designed to combine the familiarity of school with a new and exciting introduction to college, moving on to the potential of employment. This will vary from learner to learner through our ‘learner centred approach’ supporting each individual to find the right choice for them.

For many of our learners FE colleges are unable to provide for them beyond a certain level of need and can mark the closure of what could be an ambitious and aspirational future.

INTENT

Learners accessing SL are at a point in their development where they ready for a learning environment that stretches them further towards adult independence.

We intend for Learners to access a curriculum that is designed to allows them to develop at their own pace to maximise their future aspirations.

Pupils are prepared for the next stage in their journey towards adulthood with a variety of appropriate provisions, qualifications, independence goals, and work-related skills. The curriculum includes a variety of academic and vocational accreditation such as GCSE, BTEC, AQA and DofE, GCSEs,

and BTECs.

SL provides a FE establishment all set within a nurturing environment centred on shared values.

IMPLEMENTATION

The curriculum offer is built from the National Curriculum and recognised accredited qualifications.

Learners will have an input into what they wish to study and in setting their future goals.

SL is able to offer unique opportunities to stretch learners to attend a mainstream FE college with the support of a Job Coach.

All learners undertake a number of external work experience opportunities and enterprise initiatives in accordance with the Gatsby indicators.

Interview preparation, careers advice and World of Work programmes, coupled with a home skills programme, ensure that our learners can make transitions into independent living accommodation.

IMPACT

Learners further develop and generalise their self-regulation and independence skills to better prepare them for their journey into adulthood.

Learners are resilient and valued members of their community who understand their rights and responsibilities and how they can make a positive contribution to society.

Learners are proud of their academic, vocational and personal achievements.

Our Learners vs their Typical Peers

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Unlike their typical peers:

Fewer than 1 in 4 young people with an autism spectrum disorder progress to any form of education or training following school;
Our young people often miss out on the opportunity to continue to develop their learning skills;
Fewer than 1 in 7 of our young people will ever gain employment.

We aim to challenge these less than positive statistics.

Building towards College

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Moving onto college can be an unnerving prospect for many of our pupils. We therefore work to prepare each young person for life after Eagle House School. This starts with finding the most suitable college course, independence skill and travel training and, where suitable, vocational or voluntary opportunities.

We took national statistics and compared them with some of our own Year 11 leavers from recent years who had gone on to college without specialist support such as ours. We also talked to both ex-pupils and their parents. In general, they found the facilities in local colleges good but they found their experience stressful and worrying at times often due to the lack of understanding of their autism and associated anxiety. Some colleges failed to give a specific ‘named person’ for their child to refer to and others became ‘poor attenders’ due to lack of adequate supervision and support.

These comments have helped us to shape the college experience we are offering and one that our young people have the right to choose. Our 6th Form provides each learner with the experience they enjoy and the outcomes they deserve.

We are also there to prepare and support them beyond college and post 19 – into higher education or a vocational placement wherever possible.

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