Priestley Smith School

[EduCativ]

At Priestley Smith School, we aim to support our students, all of whom have a visual impairment, to do their very best, to enjoy school, and to develop into caring, confident, independent, and resourceful young people. We seek to develop well-informed, respectful young citizens who celebrate the diversity in our world and help to shape the future, who are eager to share their thoughts and views but who also listen and respond appropriately to the opinions of others.

We have high expectations for our students and have created an environment in which each individual is supported and challenged to achieve their full potential, both inside and outside the classroom. Our students have a very rich and varied curriculum that focuses heavily upon first-hand experiences and develops a love of learning. We want our students to leave us with the best possible academic qualifications but also with strong Independent Living Skills and the ability to move around the wider environment independently and safely so that they can succeed in the world.

We expect our students to be ready to learn, to work hard, and to take pride in their achievements. We also believe that a strong partnership between students, parents, and staff will ensure the best possible outcomes and therefore work closely with children and their families to identify the next steps in their learning and ways to support them to achieve these.

We are an all-age specialist center for pupils with severe sight loss. All of our teaching staff are experienced and qualified teachers of the Visually Impaired. Our support staff is also all trained to a very high standard. We are committed to providing an exciting, stimulating, and highly differentiated learning program for all of our students and to ensuring that each child is supported to reach his or her potential. We provide both a mainstream curriculum, personalized to meet each child’s visual and learning needs, and the additional specialist subjects of braille, mobility, perceptual development, and Independent Living Skills. Every student leaves the school with a range of accreditation and qualifications to help them make their way in the world.

Priestley Smith School is located on the site of Perry Beeches mainstream schools in Great Barr, Birmingham. The campus includes Perry Beeches Nursery, Infant, Junior, and Secondary schools. Our buildings are purpose-built for visually impaired students and are very well resourced to meet their needs, providing the specialist equipment they require to access the curriculum.

At Priestley Smith School we aim to provide:

• A safe, caring, and supportive learning environment which enables all students to achieve their maximum potential and encourages them to be as confident, resourceful, and independent as possible.
• High-quality first-hand learning experiences for all pupils, delivered by specialist teaching and support staff.
• Full access to a broad, balanced, and highly differentiated mainstream curriculum, modified to meet the visual, learning, and social needs of each child.
• Opportunities for both academic and social inclusion throughout all phases with campus and local schools.
• Small groups with a high teacher-pupil ratio
• Consistently high-quality resources and materials for all pupils, including specially adapted Information and Communication Technology.
• Individualized training in mobility and Independent Living Skills, delivered by specialist, on-site Rehabilitation staff.
• A range of additional extra-curricular activities to supplement class-based learning.
• An environment in which diversity is celebrated and in which all barriers to inclusion are challenged.
• A close working partnership with parents and carers, which enables them to be fully involved in their child’s learning.

The school strongly supports the Birmingham Curriculum Statement, a copy of which is included below, which ensures that all students receive their full curriculum entitlement and are prepared well to live in a culturally rich and diverse society. We recognize parents’ rights to withdraw their children from Religious Education and Sex and Relationships Education but ask them strongly to consider the importance of their child being well informed about these aspects to be independent, tolerant citizens, well equipped for life in society today. Any parents requesting withdrawal of students from RE or Sex and Relationships Education will be asked to discuss their concerns with the school’s senior leadership team.

The school recognizes its responsibility to create a curriculum that meets the needs of pupils with severe visual impairment and which also reflects their very diverse backgrounds. Additionally, it takes into account the fact that many of our pupils have complex needs which include learning difficulties, communication difficulties, physical difficulties, and social/emotional needs. It is therefore essential that the curriculum we offer while paying full regard to national guidelines is fit for purpose in meeting this range of need. Our curriculum is designed carefully to meet the needs of students with visual impairment and a range of additional needs and is bespoke to our school.

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