Autumn Term 1 Newsletter

Hello Prestley Wood families, Welcome to our first ever Prestley Post!
As we wrap up our very first half-term in our beautiful, brand-new school, I wanted to share some thoughts and highlights with you. Highlights of the Term: Our Shiny New Home: We were very aware of the level of change our pupils faced and knew these changes could cause significant anxieties. We understood that it would take time for them to trust us and feel comfortable in their new surroundings. However, the calm, uncluttered design, sensory rooms, and spacious areas have provided our learners with many opportunities to find peaceful areas to focus and reset. This has been invaluable in ensuring positive learning behaviours are already well established.
Amazing Progress: Our staff have truly come together to embrace our values of challenging our pupils to be the best they can be, all while fostering an environment of curiosity and fun. By focusing on individual needs and celebrating individual differences, we have already built a strong sense of trust. Our pupils feel safe and valued, which means they are ready to learn. It gives me great pleasure to share that all our pupils have made incredible starts. Some who were not accessing full-time education are now not only attending full-time but are thriving and eager to come to school each day. One parent shared with us that her child, who previously never talked about her day, now can’t stop sharing stories about what she has done and her new friends. Because every pupil has been able to settle so well, teachers have been able to baseline all our learners and get stuck into teaching and learning, working towards learning and EHCP targets. I hope you have seen evidence of this on Earwig, our electronic progress reporting system.
Joyful Activities: Our curriculum has to be tailored to our learners’ interests and needs and closely interlinked with life and functional skills. It has been great to see learners embrace our enrichment opportunities, such as joining the school council, providing hospitality for the Macmillan coffee morning, and supporting each other in our reading and buddy schemes.
A Heartfelt Thank You: Finally I want to extend a huge thank you to all our families. We know what a difficult journey it has been to get to our school, and we understand how hard it must be to trust new people to look after your amazing, wonderful children—especially those who are not always able to communicate their experiences. Thank you for not only trusting us but also for working so closely with us to share the unique needs and traits of your children. This collaboration has been incredibly helpful in making the pupils feel seen and understood when they are on site. The class teams, senior leaders, and I warmly invite you to continue sharing information, achievements, and updates on your children, as well as any ideas you may have to make our community even greater. This is just the start of our journey, and we hope to build our curriculum, community opportunities, and lifelong learning based on the needs of our learners. This requires the voices of our families as well as our pupils. You will see opportunities for this in our Pupil Voice and Parent Voice pages each half-term in this newsletter, and we will send termly surveys about your and your pupil’s experiences so that we can respond effectively. Looking toward the future, we are excited to build on the incredible foundations laid in this first half-term. I hope your child feels they are already an integral part of our Prestley Wood community, which I, for one, am very proud to belong to. Wishing you all a great half-term.
With warmest regards, Caroline