We provide education in line with the national curriculum – organised around the pupils’ bespoke education healthcare plans.
To ensure every child receives the best possible education, The Holden School relies on our dedicated Subject Leads. These staff members expertly oversee their subject areas, meticulously ensuring that planning allows for a clear sequence and strong progression in the knowledge, skills, and understanding required for success. We believe in building mastery step-by-step! 👣
Beyond the core curriculum, we have developed a robust and effective enrichment programme. This initiative is designed to help students cultivate vital skills, discover their unique strengths, and enhance their overall well-being outside the classroom. This includes high-impact programmes like the Princes Trust and practical Life Skills, specifically crafted to support our young people in building a confident and successful future career. 💼
For details on our latest performance, you can find our exam results here
Empowering Education and Enrichment at The Holden School ✨
To ensure every child receives the best possible education, The Holden School relies on our dedicated Subject Leads. These staff members expertly oversee their subject areas, meticulously ensuring that planning allows for a clear sequence and strong progression in the knowledge, skills, and understanding required for success. We believe in building mastery step-by-step! 👣
Beyond the core curriculum, we have developed a robust and effective enrichment programme. This initiative is designed to help students cultivate vital skills, discover their unique strengths, and enhance their overall well-being outside the classroom. This includes high-impact programmes like the Princes Trust and practical Life Skills, specifically crafted to support our young people in building a confident and successful future career. 💼
Our Core Subject Offerings 📚
The curriculum at The Holden School is broad, balanced, and designed to inspire:
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EYFS
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Maths
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Science
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English: (Covers reading across the school, phonics (using Rocket Phonics), literacy, speaking/listening, drama, and both English Literature and Language GCSEs.)
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PSHE: (Encompassing relationships education, SMSC, Health & Wellbeing, and a clear Careers pathway that aligns with the Gatsby Benchmark.)
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Art and DT: (Art, Design & Technology, and Catering 🎨)
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PE: (Includes outdoor education and the nationally recognised Duke of Edinburgh award.)
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Humanities: (History and Geography)
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Computing
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RE
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Music: (Offered as a weekly enrichment for pupils in EYFS to KS3 🎶.)
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Life Skills
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Princes Trust
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Enrichment and Pastoral activities
Creating inspiring classrooms
The Holden School is a purpose-built facility, meticulously designed with the specific educational and developmental needs of our pupils at the forefront. Every detail supports fantastic learning! ✅
We prioritise personalised support through intentionally small class sizes: each group consists of no more than six or seven children, led by a dedicated teacher and teaching assistant. This excellent ratio ensures every child receives a high level of focused attention tailored just for them. 🎯
Our classrooms are spacious, bright, and multi-functional, featuring distinct zones for dynamic learning, engaging play, and necessary downtime. This setup provides the optimum level of stimulation throughout the day. Plus, pupils regularly take advantage of our large hall and expansive playground to boost their learning experiences and bring lessons to life! 🏃♂️💡
Building strong relationships
At The Holden School, we place tremendous emphasis on teaching children how to develop and sustain positive relationships, and the best models for this are their teachers! Our dedicated staff are superb role models in every aspect of the day. ✨
You’ll see teachers serving breakfast bright and early, and sitting right alongside pupils during lunch. They also lead the children in fun, guided play during their breaks and join in the excitement on our fantastic weekly reward trips! 🚌🥳
It’s during these essential, more informal times together—outside of formal lessons—that our pupils and teachers genuinely connect, build confidence, and forge deep, lasting trust in one another. These are the moments that truly make the difference! 💖
Taking a nurturing approach
Here at The Holden School, we champion a deeply nurturing approach to education. We understand that many of the pupils we support have significant developmental gaps, which we meticulously seek to identify and address through everything we do. 🔎
Broadly speaking, pupils are placed with others of a similar age. However, our approach is flexible and pupil-centred: if we feel a specific child would thrive better in a class with others at a similar developmental level, we will readily make that adjustment. 🔄
What’s absolutely crucial is ensuring that children develop their core capabilities with enhanced social and emotional support at a pace that is just right for them. As our pupils gain the confidence to express themselves and build a strong sense of self-esteem, we consistently see them make fantastic academic progress too! 🌟📚
Supporting children with autism
We are proud to offer a specialised class providing focused provision for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This class delivers a highly structured and purposefully ‘autism-friendly’ environment that actively promotes communication and independence. 🗣️💡
Our staff here are highly skilled specialists, possessing expertise in utilising visual prompts and alternative communication systems to support pupils in making fantastic social and academic progress.
Crucially, we ensure that children within our autism provision are seamlessly integrated into the wider school community. This means they can make the most of the extensive range of activities, enrichment, and opportunities on offer to all pupils! 🤝📚
Encouraging positive behaviour
We champion a positive and proactive approach to managing behaviour, which is absolutely built on strong relationships. Our pupils understand what is expected of them and are actively encouraged to take responsibility for their actions. 🌟
At the same time, our staff are skilled at truly understanding and getting to know the young people we work with. This expertise allows them to identify when pupils are getting stressed or anxious so they can intervene early and appropriately. We ensure behaviour is always managed in a nurturing way, and the entire team receives training to uphold this vital approach. 🧠
We are also very fortunate to have a designated member of staff who manages the pastoral care of our children. This key person helps to establish and resolve any wider issues that may be affecting a child’s behaviour in the classroom. We firmly believe that no child should ever have to struggle alone. 🌈
Celebrating achievement
We absolutely love to celebrate the fantastic progress our pupils make and promote a number of reward systems to recognise their brilliant achievements! 🎉 Every afternoon, children who meet their behaviour targets can choose a fun activity to take part in during ‘Golden Time’.
Friday mornings are extra special, as we offer a vibrant variety of curriculum enrichment activities, which might include going swimming, bowling, or visiting the park! 🏊♀️🎳🏞️
At The Holden School, we combine a Positive Behaviour Recognition System with an advanced Trauma Informed Practice approach. This powerful combination is specifically designed to help young people build their self-esteem, learn to self-regulate, and truly achieve their potential. All our Team members are fully trained in the Trauma Informed Approach and are expertly supported by our fantastic onsite Therapy Team. 💖
Giving children a voice
We want the children at Holden School to feel that this is absolutely their school—a place where they are highly valued, genuinely listened to, and completely safe! 🛡️💖
Through our dynamic School Council, we actively engage pupils in decisions that affect them daily, including topics like uniform, school meals, and the exciting activities they enjoy on Friday afternoons. We even involve them in shaping our team! Potential new teachers lead a class, and we actively encourage pupils to give us their honest and valuable feedback. 📝 Wherever it’s feasibly possible, we promise to put our children’s brilliant ideas into practice! 💡
Accelerated Reader