Parent/Carers Information

School uniform is key to helping pupils feel part of our school community. We have been flexible with our expectations in order to support our pupils' sensory needs. However, uniform is compulsory for all students.

Our school jumpers with logos can be purchased from the school office. Each jumper costs £10. Your son will be provided with his first jumper free of charge. Pupils do not need to wear a jumper that has a logo, any navy school knitted jumper or sweatshirt will be accepted.

Items:

• Navy sweatshirt or knitted jumper
• White or blue shirt
• White or blue polo shirt
• Black or grey school trousers
• Black tracksuit bottoms (no named brands)
• Black school shoes
• Black trainers (Branding should be discreet, no bright colours)
• Any colour shorts or tracksuit bottoms for PE (no named brands)
• Any colour T-shirt or jumper for PE (no named brands)

If you feel that your son needs any further adaptations, please get in touch with his class team.

Beckmead Park Academy day starts at: 08:15am. Pupils finish at 14:30pm.

A typical school week, including breaks, but not after-school clubs, is usually between 6-6.5 hours a day, 30-32.5 hours a week.

More information coming soon.

Local Authority School Travel Assistance

Some of our pupils may be eligible for support from the local authority getting to and from school. This support is usually offered in the form of a taxi to and from school or a parent support budget to assist with the cost of fuel when getting pupils to and from school. To find out if your child qualifies for this support, you will need to apply directly to the local authority that you live in. Please find the contact details listed below.

• Croydon: https://new.croydon.gov.uk/school-travel-assistance
• Bromley:  https://www.bromley.gov.uk/special_educational_needs
• Southwark: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/travel-assistance
• Surrey: https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/localoffer
• Lambeth: https://beta.lambeth.gov.uk/apply-help-with-home-school-transport
• Wandsworth: http://wandsworth.childrensservicedirectory.org.uk/wandsworth
• Merton: https://directories.merton.gov.uk/directory
• Sutton: https://www.sutton.gov.uk/transport

Information coming soon.

Supporting a child who is exhibiting challenging behaviour

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Beckmead Park Academy has a policy of supporting the wider needs of our students, not just their academic learning. All of our staff are trained to support those needs to a degree but we are aware that many of our young people may benefit from targeted specialist support. We also recognise that many of our young people have found it difficult to access services like CAMHS because of various barriers to engagement. 

We therefore aim to provide onsite psychological therapy for students that need more specialist support. We employ qualified therapists who are trained to support the range of difficulties experienced by our young people and are also skilled at helping them engage.

Therapy helps students process any difficult experiences they may have had, understand their emotions better and also supports them to tap into their strengths and reach their full potential. The therapeutic approach is friendly and flexible and there are various features of the approach that help young people engage including:

• Various ways of communicating and interacting with the therapist – music, art, sport, games, drama, play as well as talking
• Content of the sessions agreed collaboratively with the student and informed by their interests and priorities
• Patience in terms of building trust. Therapy is generally long term if the student wants it to be
• Not just thinking about difficulties but also providing space to work on developing their strengths and positive qualities
• Having fun in the sessions so that students actually enjoy their therapy, even while sometimes doing difficult work

We also favour a systemic approach to therapy that does not just focus on individual work with young people but works to support the systems of relationships around them too. This includes:

• Support for families which can range from informal support to family therapy sessions depending on need and inclination.
• Working closely with teaching staff, helping them develop reflective practice and informing the strategies they use to support our students.
• Supporting the work of external professionals
• Contributing to the development of a whole school mental health approach.

The therapy provision across the 3 Croydon Beckmead Multi-Academy sites (including Beckmead Park Academy) is evaluated on an annual basis and demonstrates a positive impact on students’ levels of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties. Levels of engagement are high and the students also rate their satisfaction with their therapy highly.

Figures for 2021/2022:

• 91% of students successfully engage with therapy when offered it
• SEMH difficulties reduced by 30% on average
• Students rated their overall satisfaction with their therapy at 96%

A rigorous research study of our therapy model was conducted which included a control group for comparison and this was published in a peer-reviewed journal (Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties) in 2016. The results showed statistically significant differences for improvement in SEMH levels between the therapy group and the control group. This shows that there is an “add on” improvement from therapy in addition to the improvement that all students achieve from being in our nurturing school environment.

In addition to psychological therapy, we also provide speech and language therapy and educational psychology input for those students that need it. These support our students’ communication and learning needs.

Teamwork, consistency and community lay the foundations here at Beckmead School.  We aim to support and strengthen our pupils and their families by creating a safe, nurturing and educational environment. This is achieved through our practice, which is underpinned by the belief that education can transform lives and we strive to support pupils through a variety of experiences, to prepare them for the next steps of their educational journey and lives beyond school. We acknowledge that students learn best when lessons are matched to needs and we recognise that every child is different, with some needing additional support.  We therefore strive to get the best out of our students irrespective of previous experiences, backgrounds or abilities.

We give our students the opportunity to learn socially and academically at their own pace, enabling them to achieve their full potential. Our pupils spend their day strengthening their Literacy and Numeracy skills, usually taught by their class teacher but we also teach subjects such as Social Communication, which your child might not have encountered in their mainstream school.  Alongside these subjects, we offer a wide range of National curriculum subjects, that are tailored to meet the individual needs of each pupil, in line with their attainment and ability.

Our aim is to challenge pupils to achieve to their very best, whilst equipping them with the skills and self motivation necessary for them to grow into successful and active citizens in the wider community.

Bramley Bank and The Beck are alternative provisions for primary pupils (KS1&2) who have experienced difficulties meeting the behavioural expectations in the mainstream environment.

We operate using a staged approach working with schools and families to support an inclusive approach for pupils.

Our aim is to work with the key individuals who support the pupil, to build a clear picture of where the pupil has faced the most difficult challenges and achieved successes.  Once this has been achieved we work towards pathways to designated destinations, be it returning back to their mainstream provision, different mainstream school or a specialist SEND provision.

Tharreo House is a specialist provision for young people with mental health needs. We support some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach young people, such as those disengaged from education or those segregated from growing and learning in a safe, nurturing and caring environment.

We are fully committed to providing a dynamic and responsive learning environment within which pupils are presented with opportunities to develop into confident responsible adults.  We believe that our young people should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential, leading to genuine and positive independence and eventually purposeful employment.

Tharreo House offers all of our students a range of social and emotional tools and coping strategies that they will be able to draw upon and apply, in order to become well rounded, competent young adults. Along with our expertise and skills set, our commitment to teamwork and dedication to functional outcomes for our young people, enables us to employ a flexible and empathetic approach to working with student cohorts and their families.

We are committed to the development of the whole person within a supportive, secure and creative environment, and take seriously our contributions towards community cohesion.