At North Hill House School, we understand that a young person’s challenges and barriers to learning are in part, often due to any number of factors from poor self-percept, sensory preferences, fear of failure, strong sense of justice and traumatic past experiences attributed to learning [this list is by no means exhaustive]. We believe that appropriate access to key therapeutic pathways can assist enormously with promoting a young person’s access to learning. North Hill House School is a therapy led provision and to this end is embedded within the whole school day, from integrated approaches, ways of working and clear links between therapy, education, and residential care plans.
Our expert therapy team not only works closely with our young people, but also supports the school staff team, providing weekly tips and strategies for the whole school team and focused training events surrounding evidence based, best ASD practice.
North Hill House School has a highly skilled therapy team, including:
- Two specialist paediatric Occupational therapists
- A specialist paediatric speech and language therapist
- A specialist paediatric counsellor
- Access to an educational psychologist [by request]
All our therapists are HCPC registered and qualified to a minimum of a BSC(Hons) in their respective fields. Our therapists work full-time and remain on site, enabling seamless access to therapy services without causing undue disruption to a young person’s learning.
Regular therapeutic assessments
We organise regular therapeutic assessments for all our young people to ensure that we are always providing the level and type of support that best meets their evolving needs. When a young person first joins North Hill House School, we do not just accept their existing diagnosis and suggested therapy needs at face value. Instead, a process of observation and, where appropriate and practicable, assessment takes place. This is designed to give the multi-disciplinary team a detailed understanding of their current need[s], in addition to those illustrated within the EHCP. Our therapists work closely both with the young person and staff to prioritise the most prevalent need[s] and ensure that support provided is contextual and bespoke.
The therapy department aligns with the school’s proactive 6-weekly period of evaluation. Individual therapy plans [ITPs] are shared with parents, teachers and residential care teams where appropriate at the 6-week juncture [half termly]. This level of transparency and collaborative information sharing promotes open discourse surrounding progress and next steps. Parallel to this, North Hill House School facilitates formal annual reviews. Local authorities, parents, the young person and key individuals are all invited to collaborate, reflect and review progress made, while considering any amendments required to the EHCP.