I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to our school community. As a parent myself of a 6 year old and an 11 year old, I am very aware of the challenges and worries parents and students may have when starting at a new school.

We also recognise that for many parents the journey to get into a special school isn’t always straight forward and for those parents and extended family who have young children with additional needs it is often a time in life when you are learning about your child’s strengths and areas of difficulty.

Our staff are extremely skilled at supporting students who start with us and we aim to ensure that leading up to and including their start date is as smooth as possible. The more informed you are the less anxious you will feel.

Helen Reed (Assistant Head teacher and SENCO) leads our Wellbeing Team who work with schools, parents and students who start with us. Chloe Bowness and Holly Strachan (Wellbeing Team) will prepare a bespoke transition package that meets the needs of your son/daughter. This can include a variety of activities including home visits or visiting your child in their current school, attending annual reviews prior to your child starting with us, meeting with teachers and teaching assistants who know your child well, creating resources to support transition and support your child in visits to the school.

For those students who are starting in our EYFS class will be supported by Siobhan Boyle who is our EYFS teacher.

In addition we work with portage and other professionals to ensure that we are as informed as we can be regarding each new student.

Once your son/daughter has been allocated a class, the class teacher will also make contact with parents/carers, the student (where appropriate) and their current setting to ensure that the learning is pitched to the student’s needs and interests.

Once the initial transition work has begun we make sure that the first day is not the last day we support them in settling. Where appropriate we provide students with a student buddy who has a similar interest as your son/daughter and closely monitor for the first few months.

We hope you find this transition page on our website useful as it provides you with the necessary information including photos that you can share with your child to regularly familiarise them to the environment.

I am confident that your son/daughter will have a wonderful experience here, making fantastic progress not only academically but socially and emotionally as well.

At any point leading up to or during your time at St Christopher’s, we always have an open door policy and you are welcome to pop in for a chat or give us a call.

Yours sincerely

Kyna Adkins - Head Teacher

Middle School / Upper School Virtual Tour

Understand your   Responsibility to yourself and others.

Your Honesty is valued.

Tapestry is a secure online Learning Journal to record photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage or Stages curriculum, to build up a record of your child's experiences during their time with us. 

You can download either ParentMail or Tapestry on both Android and IOS.

Alternatively you go visit the websites on pmx.parentmail.co.uk and www.tapestryjournal.com