Prospectus - Contents

Admission Policy | Aims and Objectives | Behaviour / Discipline Policy | Attendance | Collective Worship/Religious Education | Transport | Daily Organisation | Uniform | Parental Financial Contributions | Residential Trips | The Florence Brown School | The Primary Department | The Secondary Department | Examination Results and other Achievements | Mini Enterprise | Work-Related Curriculum | Complaints Procedure

Introduction

Florence Brown Community School specialises in providing an alternative and modified approach to the National Curriculum making it relevant to all. It is concerned with the needs of the whole child and therefore provides a whole curriculum with focus upon our core subjects of literacy, numeracy and personal and social education. The experienced and energetic teaching staff of 28 teachers and 25 learning support assistants, care assistant, and a full time youth worker provide a structured learning environment for children of all ages enabling them to succeed in achieving their full potential. We stress the importance of relating to every child as an individual.

The school has 2 registered nurses on-site and benefits from a large team of other professionals who are based at the school on a part-time basis providing physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and mental health support.

Florence Brown Community School is based on a large campus site surrounded by pleasant grounds with easy access to the City of Bristol College in the south of Bristol. The school has the advantage of having separate buildings for the Primary Department (Reception to Year 7 pupils) and the Secondary Department (Year 7 to Year 12 pupils). Each building has full access for all and boasts quality facilities and resources.

The school is fully committed to promoting greater inclusive education within the South Bristol area and has established resource bases at good local infant, junior, and secondary schools. These allow greater choice for parents and greater opportunities for the young people. Visits to these bases are organised on a regular basis (see separate section).

Admission Policy

All the pupils who attend Florence Brown Community School are referred by Local Education Authorities and are subject to a written Educational Statement. Florence Brown Community School specialises in working with young people who have complex needs and who cannot cope with a mainstream school approach.

All children who attend our school have learning difficulties and at least one other main area of need, such as physical disability, poor social skills or communication delay.

If your child has a 'proposed' or 'final' Educational Statement and you feel they would benefit from the approach at the Florence Brown Community School, please discuss it with the Headteacher and Educational Psychologist at your child's current school first. Remember, you are always welcome to visit us.

Once a child is referred to us we look at all the written information we are given and try our best to visit the child at their current school. We also ask the parents to visit the school during this period. If we feel the child will socialise well in the school and that we can meet their educational and social needs we advise the Local Education Authority of this. The LEA are then able to formally offer a place at Florence Brown Community School.

Admission to the resource bases we run at local mainstream Primary and Secondary Schools, is through the annual educational review system followed by the approval of the Headteachers of all schools involved.

Aims and Objectives

Mission Statement

To create a safe secure and happy environment in which pupils of all ages, who have experienced difficulties in larger, mainstream provision, can access the whole curriculum to reach their full potential academically, socially and spiritually.

Florence Brown Community School Aims:

• To provide a quality learning environment for pupils who have complex needs.
• To provide a caring and supportive environment for pupils who have complex needs so they develop co-operative attitudes and social skills.
• To promote the self-esteem of each pupil through a small school ethos of valuing every child and allowing them to experience success and a feeling of importance.
• To provide sympathetic and empathetic staff who are able to work with other professionals and make the children feel valued and secure.
• To develop confidence and independence through a structured programme so that the young person may leave Florence Brown Community School with the necessary skills and strategies to become a contributing member of society.
• To promote a successful partnership between home and school.
• To recognise effort and positive gains not merely measurable attainments.

Behaviour / Discipline Policy

We have a clear policy document available for you to look at in school. In brief, we recognise that to be successful in this area the school and the family have to work as partners, we need your support.

We have 4 main basic school rules:
- Be in the right place at the right time;
- Respect yourself, respect others;
- Be safe; and
- Co-operate

We have a variety of rewards to help promote good effort and behaviour in school and ask that you reinforce these rules with your child.

The class teacher/tutor will keep you informed about how your child is coping and the progress they are making. If any problems do arise they may wish to meet with the parents to discuss how we can work together to support the child.

We do not accept racial abuse, verbal abuse or physical abuse of any kind and if any serious incident arose the Headteacher would contact the families of those involved. We do recognise the need to use short/fixed-term exclusions in serious circumstances as a useful means of dealing with inappropriate behaviours. In such situations an exclusion meeting is held in school led by the Headteacher and it is expected that the parents of the child involved attend this meeting.

We focus on celebrating the children’s achievement and this culminates in special assemblies every Friday afternoon in both the Secondary and Primary departments. You may well find your child bringing home certificates and/or awards on Friday, better still, why not come to the assemblies and join in the applause. The celebrating achievement assemblies begin at 2:40p.m. each Friday afternoon.

Attendance

Attendance and punctuality are very important if your child is going to be successful both at school and in later life. We are committed to monitoring and supporting our pupils to achieve high levels of both attendance and punctuality. To do this we work very closely with the family of each child at the school knowing that if we work together we can have the best results.

Our commitment is to contact you if your child is absent without reason or has arrived late without authorisation from the family. If we have not heard from the family within 3 days we will ask the Educational Welfare Officer to visit the home to ensure all is well. The commitment we ask from the pupils family is that you let us know by letter or by telephone if your child is unable to attend school and for what reason. If we are not given an appropriate reason for absence your child will be given an unauthorised absence in the school register. We are always prepared to talk over with you any difficulties you are having in getting your child/children to school and you will also find the school’s Education Welfare Officer (EWO) very helpful. The EWO can be contacted at school every Monday morning.

The current EWO is Karen Clark (Tel: 0117 9031300), we positively promote good attendance by awarding special certificates and prizes each term for those who achieve 100% attendance and punctuality, rewards such as cinema tickets, McDonald's Vouchers, etc are given out.

If attendance of a child does not improve after our support parents may be called in front of the school Governors panel.

Attendance Rates:

  1998 - 84%

  1999 - 87.2%

  2000 - 87.4%

Collective Worship/Religious Education

The school recognises the value and purpose of all members of the school coming together and participating in assemblies.

These will, at times, be based mainly of Christian character; however, we recognise that the children have a wide and challenging range of special educational needs and so we modify our approach and encourage full participation but realise that for some of the children large group settings and activities provide additional challenges for them. We then emphasise smaller group time to consider spiritual opportunities.

We have to be creative at times to achieve our aims of deliberately engaging the students in discussion and reflection with regard to the Deity. To ensure this we encourage other organisations and spiritual leaders to become involved in school life. We ensure we reflect the religious beliefs of the whole school by holding assemblies that reflect other religious traditions represented both in the school and within the local community of Bristol.

2000/2001 Assemblies

Our assemblies are held at 9:45 a.m. on Mondays, and 2:40 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays in the Secondary Department.

Our assemblies are held at 11:40 a.m. on Mondays and 2:40 p.m. on Fridays with class assemblies also being held on Wednesdays in the Primary Department.

If you do not want your child to participate in religious worship, please contact the school and alternative arrangements can be made.

Transport

The Bristol LEA have a policy of providing transport for all those children who live over 3 miles sway from Florence Brown Community School. In exceptional cases transport can also be provided for children who live within 3 miles of the school. All school transport is arranged by the LEA Transport Services Department directly with the family of the pupil. The children are supervised at all times on the transport by a coach escort. If you experience concerns with the transport service, please do not hesitate to contact the Headteacher.

Remember, it always in your child’s best interests to have school transport written onto their Educational Statements.

We promote where appropriate independent travel, using bus passes, for Year 10 and 11 students.

School Mini-Buses

The school operates 4 mini-buses; 2 of which are accessible for wheelchair users. They are used regularly for visits, day trips and residentials. All the staff who drive the buses have passed mini-bus driving courses and all the buses are fitted with seat belts.

The School has a comprehensive policy towards use of mini-buses ensuring your child’s safety comes first.

Daily Organisation

Lunches are cooked freshly on the site and a choice of hot and cold dishes are provided including vegetarian meals. Thanks to the commitment of the teaching staff there is a good level of supervision during lunchtime and this includes our team of 6 lunchtime supervisors.

Clubs and recreational activities are provided at lunch times including gym clubs, music clubs, a French club, trampolining, computer games and a disco. The pupils are also allowed to stay in if they wish to use the library for quiet reading.

Uniform

We encourage smart appropriate clothes and discourage jewellery and inappropriate footwear. We do not have a school uniform as this can be very expensive for the family, especially if the child has just left and may return to a mainstream school.

Florence Brown Community School has committed itself to purchasing the appropriate school sweatshirt for any pupil who moves to one of our resource bases.

Parental Financial Contributions

Certain subject areas within the school require the purchase of materials and to help towards this the school occasionally asks parents for a small contribution. Contributions are also asked for to go towards the costs of the trips that are organised for the children within school.

We know that there are times when all parents have difficulties in meeting financial commitments, please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher, Headteacher or the Bursar to discuss any matters relating to this issue.

In no circumstances will a child be denied access to any area of school life as a result of no contributions having been made.

Residential Trips

As early as the Primary Department we introduce the children to the experience of residential trips. We feel the opportunity to be part of such a trip allows the young people to develop their self-confidence and social skills, as well as learning from the activities they take part in. The residential opportunities provided include Parkend Outdoor Activity Centre in the Forest of Dean; Churchtown Activity Centre in Cornwall; Downside Abbey in Somerset; Le Fosso in France and camping trips.

All these trips are subsidised by the school and the children are supported by a large team of staff and adults while they are away.

The Florence Brown School

The school caters for children with complex needs

Chair of Governors - Mrs Gill Cameron

Headteacher - Mr Peter Evans

Deputy Headteacher/Community Officer - Mr Richard Berry

Deputy Headteacher/Curriculum & Pupils - Miss Georgina Muxworthy

The Primary Department

We are a team of 7 teachers and 11 permanent learning support assistants. High staffing ratios are important: adults are an integral part of the curriculum at the Primary Stage. Class sizes vary from 8 to 12 pupils. Each class has at least two members of staff; and additional adult support is welcomed from parents, volunteers and students. It is important that all adults provide consistent, warm relationships.

Teachers and class learning support assistants work closely together to ensure that individual needs are met, with advice from Speech Therapists and Occupational Therapists.

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum with modified and differentiated teaching across Key Stages 1 and 2.

It is our aim for our children to develop a range of self care skills and to become confident, competent learners and communicators; developing ways of coping with conflict, challenge and change and able to work collaboratively with others.

We want our children to feel valued and secure;
We want them to develop co-operative attitudes and social skills;
We want them to develop the ability to attend, concentrate and listen;
We want them to know the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

In the Primary Department we provide a safe, structured environment with regular routines. We also encourage choice, responsibility and independence.

Pupils have access to equipment for imaginative play in each year group. They are encouraged to develop their strengths, interests and abilities in Music, Art, Drama, Technology and PE which support the core curriculum.

(2)

A variety of activities, materials, tools, processes and experiences help them develop language and communication skills, physical and manipulative skills, literacy and numeracy skills.

Each pupil has an Individual Education Plan and regular meetings are held with parents to review each child's Statement in accordance with the Code of Practice. Some children also have an Individual Behaviour Plan which ensures they receive the right support to develop their social skills.

Recent projects include Reading is Fundamental which has raised the profile of reading throughout the school and we have just been included in the Literacy Project as a pilot Special school in Bristol.

We want our children to gain knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world about them. We have access to the local environment and the wider community through our school minibuses.

The Department is well resourced with specialist facilities on site for music, swimming, technology, pottery/art and cookery. There is a new, well stocked library and a soft play room.

Teaching staff play a full part in ensuring a positive social environment at break times and lunch times and extra curricular activities are an important part of primary school life. The Primary Department celebrates all achievements, however small in a weekly assembly, rewarding and reinforcing progress.

As a whole school we are proud of the variety of our links with the local community, informal links exist between some primary classes and a local mainstream school. In the future we are keen to extend these links as part of our commitment to a more inclusive system in which we are a true community school - a school without walls!

The Secondary Department

We are a team of 16 teachers, 13 learning support assistants and 1 care assistant who all work closely with the Speech Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists where relevant. Classes are taught in chronological groups and never exceed 12 in a group. We also have groups with higher intensity staff support which never exceed 8 in a group. These groups are taught by a teacher and also have a learning support assistant with them.

All national curriculum subject areas are taught by specialist staff in appropriately resourced areas. The school has very specialised equipment ensuring all students can access the full curriculum. Physical disabilities do not prohibit access to the whole curriculum.

The Key Skills of COMMUNICATION, APPLICATION OF NUMBER, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, WORKING WITH OTHERS, IMPROVING OWN LEARNING and PROBLEM SOLVING are all recognised as important themes in learning. Many employers see these skills as being more important than G.C.S.E.'s and we agree with them!

Secondary Curriculum

Florence Brown Community School provides a curriculum which is modified and tailored to meet the needs of the individual child. These are established on entry, taking into account previous experiences, assessments and information from the 'Statement' and input from other professionals. The main elements of this information forms the basis of the child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). Where a child may have the need to develop their social skills an Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP) will be set-up between the school, pupil and their family, then reviewed on a regular basis.

Literacy and Communication

All pupils receive a structured daily programme of literacy focussing upon reading, writing, spelling and comprehension. The content of these sessions are made relative to their ability and age. In addition, the pupils receive English lessons which focus upon appreciation and creativity. Each department of the school has well stocked and easily accessible libraries to support non-fiction reading and when and what the pupils read is monitored very carefully. Monitoring and evaluation of the pupils language skills and progress they have made takes place twice a year and they may change groups as a result of this information.

Additionally the Speech and Language Therapist individually assess those students with communication difficulties and devise a communication programme designed to develop the use of language in a social context.

Florence Brown Community School is the first school of its kind to be part of the international Reading is Fundamental project promoting the importance of books and reading at home as well as at school.

Literacy is one of the few areas in which we actively encourage homework and school bookbags are provided to help the children take their reading books home. It is very important that the parents show a keen interest in their child’s reading and spend time with them on this. We also use the phonographix approach to develop reading throughout the School and this is proving to be quite successful.

Mathematics/Numeracy

The children receive numeracy on a daily basis and we follow the National Numeracy strategy. Emphasis is to make Mathematics an enjoyable yet purposeful and meaningful subject throughout Key Stage 3 and 4. The aim is for every child to reach his/her full potential in a programme which follows closely the National Curriculum, extends the more able pupils yet considers the needs of all individuals. There is great emphasis on tackling the basics of the 4 rules of number and its practical application together with the ability to solve problems mentally. Pupils at Key Stage 4 follow an accredited course that is appropriate to the individuals needs and ability with the most able students being entered for G.C.S.E. courses; others follow a Certificate of Education Course and a Skillpower course recognised nationally.

The School teaches all other aspects of the National Curriculum and Religious Education through specialised staff and specialist resources. All areas of learning from the cookery room to the hydrotherapy pool ensuring equal access for all children.

The full time-table includes:

Science
Design Technology
Art
Music
Humanities (Geography and History)
Modern Foreign Language (French)
Information Technology
Religious Education

Health, Personal and Social Education

Much of the good work in this area takes place during tutorial time and outside of lessons. We help pupils learn to recognise the limits and boundaries of acceptable behaviour and help them to work and play co-operatively together. We give pupils the opportunity to resolve conflicts themselves through guided group work. There is also important specific lesson time in H.P.S.E. covering areas such as relationships, sex education, drug education, disability equality work and health education.

Sex Education

The Governors policy is that Sex Education is part of the educational entitlement for all students. The programme is covered with the Personal and Social Education programme. We strive to stress the importance of developing the whole student, emphasising the Personal, Social, Health and Moral Education of the students. We use teaching materials which are appropriate for the type of students we work with.

When the Sex Education part of the course is to be taught, parents are informed. They have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from any part of the course that does not form part of the National Curriculum

Vocational training courses in Key Stage 4 include:

Land Studies Course

Land Studies is currently offered only at Key Stage 4. The course is based on the Welsh Joint Education Committee Certificate of Education Achievement Syllabus with some additions including the making and marketing of concrete garden products . This area of the course is accredited through the Skillpower Certificate (City & Guilds). Students learn how to grow food and flower crops successfully and gain experience in some Amenity Horticultural techniques. The course links well with the Horticultural Course offered by the City of Bristol College.

Child Care Course

This course is based on the Welsh Board Certificate of Educational Achievement and lasts for five terms. It is designed to give pupils a basic understanding of all aspects of child care. The pupils complete various assessments as well as learning many practical skills such as 'bathing a baby'.

College Link Courses

All students are given the opportunity to experience the various courses offered at the City of Bristol College. In Year 10 they can take up to 6 areas of vocational training including Building, Mechanics, Catering and Hairdressing. In Year 11 the students can then focus on 1 area and achieve elements of GNVQ accreditation in that area.

We promote the opportunity for students to get to know their local College before deciding their next steps after School.

Careers Education

This becomes a specific part of the curriculum in Year 8 providing guidance for the students with regard to making important decisions about their future. The Careers Officer supports the Careers teacher and provides individual interviews with the students in Year 9, 10 and 11. Parents are welcome to be involved in all these interviews.

Examination Results and other Achievements

The school does have access to G.C.S.E. courses in Maths, English and History where relevant to individual students (it should be noted that these courses are based at our Redcross Street Annexe site)

2000

Mini Enterprise

The school has a mini enterprise company known as Greenfingers plc. This company is run and staffed by students in Key Stage 4.

The company makes and markets a wide variety of concrete garden products, undertakes minor garden projects such as patio construction and garden clearance and grows and markets bedding and patio plants.

All students in Key Stage 4 are eligible to take part in Greenfingers activities if they wish. When involved in these activities outside school hours students earn credit towards camp spending money and profits from the enterprise are partly reinvested into the company and partly used to subsidise Key Stage 4 extra-curricular activities.

The company is registered with Young Enterprise and students have the advantage of advice from outside business experts.

The activities help to accredit students taking part in the Land Studies Course and Skillpower Certificate.

Work-Related Curriculum

Florence Brown Community School is one of the leading schools in Bristol in delivering a work-related curriculum at Key Stage 4. We have become so successful at winning building construction and land studies courses that students from other local Secondary Schools share our expertise and resources from time-time.

A Request to the Parents:

• to support the school, especially the class teacher/tutor, in trying to raise their child’s achievement
• to play as full a part as possible in the school community
• to keep the school informed of relevant information concerning their child
• to encourage and help with homework (especially reading) when and if appropriate
• to attend each educational review meeting at school (for which you will be given at least 2 weeks notice)

REMEMBER The Parents Only Free phone Telephone Number is 0800 7833934

Complaints Procedure

If any parents or carers have any worries or concerns regarding their child or with regard to any of the information given in this prospectus or regarding the education of their child , we at Florence Brown Community School would hope that they would contact the Head Teacher direct using the Parents Freephone number to discuss this matter. They may also contact the Chair of Governors, Mrs Gill Cameron via the school.