The Brook Special Primary School

A very warm welcome to the Brook Special Primary School. Our school is part of the Broadwaters Inclusive Learning Community which means that we share our values, vision, ethos and aspirations with the Willow Primary School, Broadwaters Children’s Centre and the Broadwaters Extended School Service. What’s more, we share a groundbreaking state of the art building. Our inclusive approach means that pupils live together in an aspirational learning environment where every need is met.

Our pupils are aged 4 – 11 and have a range of needs such as Autism severe and complex learning difficulties as well as associated physical, medical, and emotional needs. This means that they need a safe, specialist environment to help them learn and reach their potential.

Laughter, excitement and enthusiasm are evident in all aspects of our school life. Our emphasis on communication, creativity, physical and personal development means that our pupils develop into self-confident learners who are rightly proud of themselves and their achievements. We aim to enable our pupils to move confidently onto the next stage of their lives.

To achieve this, we have created a school and inclusive learning community where:

• Outstanding teaching and learning is central to everything we do and is challenging, rewarding and fun.
• The school is full of laughter, light, excitement and enthusiasm.
• The curriculum is continuously reinvented by a learning community which is committed to meeting the needs of our pupils.
• Communication is central - every pupil will leave the school with an individualised system of communication which can be non-verbal, signed or verbal.
• Creativity is placed at the centre of teaching and learning, breaking down the barriers between subjects.
• A wide-ranging and highly skilled multidisciplinary team works collaboratively with the school to provide access to the curriculum across the range of pupils.
• The environment and curriculum provides every pupil with the opportunity to grow personally, socially and academically to be the best they can be and to develop an overwhelming sense of self confidence and high self esteem within a stimulating and caring environment.
• There are clear boundaries and structures set for the pupils, which are well communicated and consistently reinforced.
• Every child is entitled to enjoy their childhood and is kept safe.
• The approach across the inclusive community is holistic and one of collaboration, harmony and trust, creating a safe, supportive environment.
• Positive images of and attitudes towards all our pupils are developed in the community in order to access their right be included in that community.
• Difference and diversity is valued, understood, embraced and celebrated and the whole learning community is respected and valued with any discrimination opposed and rigorously challenged.
• Acaring community is based on fair, understanding and compassionate relationships.
• The school and the pupils are placed firmly in the mainstream of educational provision and at the centre of community life.

The Brook Primary Special School is within the same learning community and in the same building as The Willow Primary School and our vision is very simply about children on a continuum of need including those with the most profound and complex of needs, who are learning, living and belonging together in an aspirational learning environment where every child’s needs are met.
Haringey is an area rich in cultural diversity, and the Brook community faces all the benefits and challenges of inner city life from the range of different experiences, cultures, religions, customs and languages which pupils, parents/carers and staff bring to the school. Although our children will come from across the Local Authority, we are very much a part of the Broadwaters Inclusive Learning Community (BILC).

The Brook offers co-educational day school provision for children with profound, severe and complex learning difficulties; those who have language and communication needs; pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), plus associated physical, medical, communication and emotional needs. This complex range of need and the inclusive nature of our campus create huge demands on the school’s curriculum to be able to meet the needs of every pupil. The majority of Brook pupils will progress to Riverside as their secondary special school and most of them will then move to the Sixth Form Centre.

Our curriculum promotes and sustains a thirst for knowledge and understanding and a love of learning. It covers a wide range of subjects and provides opportunities for academic, technical and sporting excellence. It has a very positive impact on all pupils’ behaviour and safety, and contributes very well to pupils’ academic achievement, their physical well-being, and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Respecting and developing ‘pupil voice’ is at the heart of all that we do at the Brook; especially considering that many pupils have communication difficulties or have difficulties with social interaction, which means their voice isn’t always easily heard. It is important for the supporting adults at school to help the pupils find and use their voice and at times act as an advocate on their behalf. Pupils are constantly encouraged and enabled to have a pertinent, enthusiastic, listened to, heard and influential voice. Their thoughts, opinions and attitudes are considered throughout every area of the curriculum and where possible the pupils are given choices and offered opportunities to express themselves. Through art, music, drama, dance, planned PSED sessions and much more the pupils can share as much of their personality as they want to with their peers and support staff.