Riverside Bridge School

Riverside Bridge is an expanding Special School and the only of its kind in the borough, coming under the umbrella of ‘Riverside Campus’. We work closely with Riverside Primary and Riverside Secondary to provide the very best for our students.As of September 2017 we have 15 classes ranging from 6 – 10 students. Each of these classes have the support of 3 adults who work closely with them daily to ensure they are given access to an inclusive and enriched curriculum that is both accessible and relevant to their needs.

Riverside Bridge is an inclusive school where every child is valued and supported to achieve as full and independent life as possible.Inclusion is about entitlement, access and equality of opportunity. Every student has a right to expect a broad and balanced relevant education alongside his or her peer group and within their local community. We will be open to children from all religions and will practice tolerance of all faiths and beliefs in the multi-cultural community we serve.

We believe parental co-operation and support are key factors in our student’s school success, many of our students are unable to communicate so it is vital to receive parental input at the earliest opportunity. Class teachers, phase leaders and the senior leadership team are happy to be contacted about individual students; this can be done via the home/school communication book, a phone call or by sending an email via the school email.

We have a dynamic and inspirational team of teachers, academically well-qualified, hard-working and committed to ensuring that every learner achieves their very best.Homework tasks are set and recorded in the student diary, so that parents are able to check what has been given and support their child’s work. There is a supervised Homework Club, which runs after school in the IT suite, for students who wish to make use of school facilities to help them with their work.

At the start of the year each student is base lined using the school’s chosen method of assessment, ‘Strands of Attainment’. The base-lined data is used to generate targets for Autumn, Spring and Summer terms. Targets are calculated and adjusted according to the individual child’s category of need (PMLD, MLD, SLD and ASD). Riverside Bridge use a combination of aspirational targets based on base line levels alongside CASPA (Comparison and Analysis of Special Pupil Attainment) which is used by schools across the UK for students with special needs.

Student’s progress is monitored on a termly basis through data collection; the data is closely analysed and evaluated through pupil progress meetings. The findings of this data is then used to inform future planning and address any interventions that may be required.In the Spring term students have an annual review to discuss any progress made and any requirements needed to ensure they are supported in all areas both educationally and personally. Where appropriate, discussions and changes to Education and Healthcare Plans (EHCP) are made. Parents are invited to contribute to person centred learning objectives which highlight the needs of students in a wider setting such as toileting, communication and hygiene.At the end of the school year in the summer term parents are provided with a full report highlighting all progress made with each student’s personalised targets.

Behaviour management is crucial to the successful day to day running of Riverside Bridge. Within each classroom, class teachers will set their own boundaries and expectations in order to ensure the standard of behaviour reflects the high standard of provision offered.

In September 2016 we moved to the new site on Renwick Road, along with Portakabin, Anna Hope assisted with the design of the purpose built Riverside Bridge School. Here we have a range of facilities to support both the needs of our students alongside specialised classrooms. Each of which has a ‘chill out’ or group room attached for additional learning.We are also fortunate enough to have our own sports facilities, dining hall, food technology, science lab, art, DT and our Home Management rooms.Students where appropriate travel to and from these additional rooms which are located to access a wide and varied curriculum, the travel aspect encourages independence and an awareness of the surroundings outside of Bridge.

The curriculum at Riverside Bridge School offers pupils curriculum experiences that are broad, balanced, relevant, differentiated and progressive and which promote the spiritual, intellectual, personal, social and physical development of all our pupils. Accommodating the educational needs of all its pupils and enabling pupils to acquire the knowledge, concepts, skills and values that are relevant to their present and future lives is core to the school culture, management, organisation, curriculum content and approaches to teaching and learning.The pupils at Riverside Bridge School are not a homogeneous group, and even those of the same apparent developmental age may not progress through the stages of development at the same rate but our aim is to provide all pupils with relevant and appropriately challenging targets and work at each stage of their development.

We’re pleased to announce that we have switched to an online payment service for you to pay for your child’s school dinner. Using a secure website called ParentPay you will be able to make payments to school online using your credit or debit card.

Everyone will benefit from our new payment facility. ParentPay is easy-to-use and offers you the freedom to make online payments whenever and wherever you like, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – safe in the knowledge that the technology used is of the highest internet security available and that funds will reach school safely.With ParentPay, parents have their own secure online account, activated using a unique username and password; making a payment using your credit or debit card is straightforward and ParentPay holds an electronic record of all payments for you to view at a later date. When you make a payment, an email confirmation is sent to you, giving you the reassurance that the transaction has been successful.