Rowanfield School

Rowanfield School is situated in the North of Edinburgh and is a city wide, multi-agency school for primary aged children with severe and complex social, emotional and behavioural needs.

Rowanfield is situated in the North of Edinburgh and is a citywide, multi-agency school for primary aged children with severe and complex social, emotional and behavioural needs. Rowanfield opened in November, 2002, under the Public/Private Partnership. It is a purpose built school consisting of teams that work with children and their parents/carers. There is a city wide multidisciplinary process to assess placements at this school.

We believe that:

• Children who are corageous are most likely to achieve their aspirations
• Children who are curious will question the world around them
• Children who are compassionate can encourage others to be better
• Children who are creative will be able to solve the problems of the future

To enable children to achieve these qualities school staff aspire to:

• Nurture children as individuals and help them recognise what they have to offer as members of society
• Motivate and inspire children to achieve
• Develop children’s interests, passions and/or talents
• Create positive and memorable learning experiences.

When we create this, Children will feel:

• That they have something to offer that is valued
• Curious & excited about learning
• Confident to ask questions and have a desire to explore
• Inspired to share their learning.

Our pupil population is transient due to new learners arriving, and others leaving to move on to a mainstream setting or to another specialist provision. This process happens throughout the school year.

The building is divided into three learning and teaching areas, each of which has three classrooms, a nurture space and support base and a general purpose area. Other spaces include the gym hall, art room, teacher resource room, family room, nurture classroom, sensory room, therapy room, meeting room, visiting therapists’ room, outdoor education resource and a support for learning area.

The management team consists of the Headteacher, Depute Headteacher, Principal Teacher and a part-time Business Manager. Our staffing model reflects the degree of individual care and attention that our young people require to help meet their needs. The school has a multi-agency approach to working with our young people and this includes Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, School Doctor, Nurse and Health Assistant and Community Mental Health Workers. In addition to this we work in partnership with our school Family Support Worker and Barnardos.

There are currently 8 classes and the child to teacher ratio is 6:1. We also offer Relax Kids and The Zone nurture class for those who require this input. In addition, there are Nursery Nurses and Behaviour Assistants who make up our Behaviour Support Team. We also we Pupil Support Assistants working throughout the school to support both the pupils and their families.

At Rowanfield, we aim to offer a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment for our young people whose social and emotional difficulties and consequential behaviours can pose an issue to themselves within mainstream education settings.

We aim to support our pupils so that they can make good progress from prior levels of attainment and achievement. We aspire to actively engage them in their learning and to take responsibility for the setting personal targets and improving their behaviour. We want them to be proud of their school environment and of their achievements. We aim to help our young people focus on developing respect for themselves and for others in order to maximise their experience of Primary School and be presented with opportunities to be reintegrated into their community.

Rowanfield is a safe and nurturing place of learning where we help our young people build skills for life and have high hopes for their future.

Our Aims:

• To maintain a positive environment where children feel safe and are nurtured.
• To provide an inclusive, creative and challenging curriculum that engages our
  learners.
• To model appropriate behaviour and mutual respect.
• To build self-esteem by nurturing talents and interests.
• To engage parents and carers, partner agencies and the wider community.