Lawrence House School

Lawrence House School opened in 2010. It is registered as an Independent Special School (DfE 340/6001) operating across our five Children’s Homes in Merseyside and is run by Quality Protects Children Ltd. There is a range of information the school is required to publish under the Independent School Standards and this can be found here (Ofsted and Other information).

In offering education, our starting point is that while many children and young people in care enjoy school and think it is important, as a group they are more likely to have poor experiences of education and low educational attainment. This is a long-identified issue:

“Looked after children have long been recognised to be at a disadvantage in terms of their educational experiences and outcomes.” (Jackson and Sachdev, 2001)

LHS – Learning Holistically for Success

Lawrence House School is an inclusive and diverse community providing tailored education instilling self-belief and empowering students to go on to lead confident happy lives

Our Core Values

At the Lawrence House School you will find;

  • high expectations and aspirations for all
  • access to a range of qualifications through a broad and balanced curriculum
  • mutual respect, equal opportunities and understanding for all
  • space for students and staff to make choices, express themselves and their views
  • a safe and caring environment in which students can learn and develop
  • robust safeguarding procedures
  • opportunities for students to develop their independence including personal safety and life skills
  • innovative and forward thinking staff

 

Our Core Purpose

We are here to deliver a bespoke, empowering, trauma informed curriculum to allow all students to achieve.

Embracing diversity and inclusivity to promote confident caring students and citizens within our communities.

To nurture and equip our students to become the best versions of themselves for a safe, happy and brighter future.

 

 

 

 

The government introduced a range of measures in attempts to raise educational attainment, enhancing the prospects for future employment as well as personal and family fulfillment (DfES, 2007). However, the reasons for the lower attainment of looked after children are complex, including family background, pre-care experiences, instability, and shortcomings in the care environment, low expectations and poor communication between social workers, carers and schools (Harker et al., 2004; Comfort, 2007).”

Sir Martin Neary’s 2016 review of residential care in England cites some challenges facing young people in care in relation to education:

    • 53% of children living in children’s homes have a statement of special educational needs or an Educational, Health and Care plan, and a further 28% have identified special educational needs without statements or EHC plans. This compares to 20% and 34% for all looked after children respectively.
    • In 2013, about 62% had clinically significant mental health difficulties; and, 74% were reported to have been violent or aggressive in the past six months
  • Leaving care at 16 or 17 years of age is associated with very poor outcomes: only a quarter of young people who left care at 16 years of age were in education at 19 compared with 40 per cent of young people who left aged 18 and over – and only 6 per cent of young people from all placements go on to higher education. After leaving care they are also likely to have a cluster of problems including poor mental health, getting into trouble, being unemployed and periods of homelessness.


However, Lawrence House School was set up not only in response to the general poor educational outcomes young people were achieving in both mainstream and alternative educational provision, but specifically in response to a lack of local quality mainstream or alternative educational provision that was able to meet the needs of the young people we were looking after.

As a school, we believe wherever possible, looked after children should be educated in mainstream provision, but understand that in many cases it may take time to rebuild confidence and ability to learn. Our understanding of the barriers cited above, as well as the impact of multiple trauma,  means we build towards mainstream through intense one to one teaching and a creative curriculum that builds resilience and engagement, as well as subject knowledge. We are able to offer shared educational provision, with a mix of local college provision.

Before admission we build up an individual profile of each young person, outlining as full as possible picture of the young person and their educational experience and factors influencing their future education. Where there are gaps a range of tests will be completed to develop that full understanding. Educational targets are set through the IEP incorporating ECHP and PEP.

 

 

 

 

 

Each young person has their own individualised timetable which covers as a minimum English and Maths and a specialised mental health programme designed to build resilience and re-engagement, which is linked to physical development and PSHE elements in the curriculum.  Amongst our team of tutors, we also have expertise in maths, English, sciences (understanding the world), physical education, creative arts, drama, and PSHE. We have young people on a range of syllabi up to and including GCSE and teach both in classrooms and in settings within the community where young people are able to do voluntary work or achieve awards such as Duke of Edinburgh.    

The school leadership team comprises:

 

Michael Melbourne (He/Him) – Headteacher & DSL

I am Michael Melbourne, and I am the Headteacher at Lawrence House School. I have been working in education for 12 years in a      variety of roles in both Mainstream and Hospital Schools. I studied at Sheffield Hallam University completing my BSc Hons in Physical Education and Youth Sport and PGCE in Physical Education. I have completed my NPQH through Schools Improvement Liverpool.

I have worked in CAMHS inpatient hospital schools for the past 10 years, having first setting up an education offer at a smaller site to    being head of school for 50 pupils. This involved providing an ongoing education offer while supporting some of the most vulnerable and risky pupils.

I lead the Quality of Education, Leadership and Management, Financial Planning, Development and         improvement strategy and the Safeguarding Lead at Lawrence House school. I believe in a high-quality personalised education offer for all our pupils, ensuring they are equipped with the skills for the next phase of their education, training or employment.

 

David Friend (He/Him) – Deputy Headteacher

I am David Friend, Deputy Head Teacher at Lawrence House School. I studied a BA QTS Primary School Teaching w/Mathematics Hons Degree at Liverpool Hope University.

After I qualified to become a teacher I spent some time in a variety of schools to further develop my pedagogy. I quickly found myself working in Secondary Schools and found where I felt I belonged in education. This then shifted into SEN schools and ‘Behavioural’ schools where I found my niche, supporting the more vulnerable young people so that they have every possibility to achieve whatever their goals may be.

That is why I find myself working here at Lawrence House School where I can support, educate, and help young people to succeed in their education and wider social goals.  Within Lawrence House School, I lead on improving school attendance, behavior and students attitude.  I am also the school Exams Officer.

Follow our school via Twitter – @LawrenceHouseS2