Melrose Secondary & Primary Schools (Melbury College)

Melbury College aims to educate the ‘whole child’ through a personalised approach to learning. Pupils are supported, challenged, stretched and inspired in a wide range of learning opportunities through our broad, balanced and engaging curriculum.We will transform the lives of young people by providing bespoke and specialist education of the highest standard.

All admissions to special schools come through the Local Authority. When the school is approached to admit a pupil the parent is invited to come and see the school. Parents may also book appointments to view the school directly with the Head of School. Once it is clear that the parent is happy with the prospect of their child being admitted arrangements are made to find out about the pupil and to see that, as far as possible, the placement is an appropriate one to meet the childs needs. Replies to requests for placements go via the LA.Entry to Melrose School is via an EHCP (Education, Health and Care plan) or Statement of Special Educational Needs. All applications should be made via the Merton SEN Team including those from outside the London Borough of Merton.

Parents and children may visit the school and should arrange this directly with the Head of School.Once a placement is considered or advised by SEN Merton the Head of School will then discuss with the class teacher and arrange an entry time for the pupil, that will allow for the class to be prepared to take the newcomer. The new pupil will be asked invited to spend some time on transition (e.g. initially half a day then increasing over the first week to full time). In some instances, extended links are established.When any placement is considered inappropriate the matter will be discussed with the LA. If needs be the application will be raised with the Chair of Governors.

At Melbury College we aim to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that will enable all our young people to become successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve. We personalise the curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of our pupils. We aim for the pupils to become confident individuals who are able to lead safe, healthy and fulfilling lives and that they become responsible citizens who will make a positive contribution to society. We aim to widen our pupil’s knowledge and their horizons.

All learners irrespective of their race or gender should have genuine equal opportunities which enable them to experience and benefit from all aspects of school life. Equal opportunity is more than access to the curriculum; it places on teachers a responsibility for avoiding sex and race stereotyping and challenging discriminatory or prejudiced attitudes.

The diversity of experience which children and young people bring to school are recognised and learners should feel secure and confident enough to share their personal and cultural experiences with their teachers and their peers in an atmosphere of tolerance, sensitivity and understanding.

We need to be creative in our approaches to learning, as all our pupils require a degree of curriculum personalisation. They are pupils who have failed to engage in mainstream methods and need the curriculum adapted so that they can achieve. Each subject leader is responsible to find approaches that will engage the pupils in learning, but also wherever possible also achieve national standards, engaging with externally accredited qualifications, Entry Level qualifications and GCSE examinations as ultimately these are the standards they wish to achieve and those by which we are judged.

At Melrose School all our staff are regularly trained in Child Protection, this helps us to teach our students how to keep themselves safer. We work with due diligence to ensure our environment is both safe and secure for our: students, staff, parents and visitors. We believe in fostering positive relationships and a place which is safe, supportive, friendly and a secure learning environment.

Our students are taught e-safety, safe guarding and a host of other life skills to ensure they have a wealth of knowledge on safety and keeping healthy. Our students are the next generation. We believe in keeping them safe, both in and out of school. We use monitoring software called Impero which uses categories such as lists of words or phrases, to capture and identify inappropriate activity by any students. In addition to this we have a number of CCTV cameras on site, helping us to achieve our aim on safeguarding our students, staff, parents and visitors.

One important aspect of Melrose is the reward system we have in place. We believe our students benefit from positive recognition, hence it was an obvious and natural decision for us to have in place a point’s reward system. At the end of each week, these points are converted into a monetary value. This monetary award plays a key role in motivating our students. Many of our students, will often purchase gifts for their family members, demonstrating their caring and thoughtful nature.Students are also required to pay damages and fines from their accounts as a consequence for poor behaviour.