As our community will be aware, we had made plans prior to COVID 19 to alter the house on our site into a base for pupils who may find even a smaller, SEMH environment complicated to manage, but COVID 19 and the world wide crisis in obtaining building materials (which had sky rocketed in price) meant that the plans had to be re-evaluated and an extension on our funding stream had to be sought.

 

Finally we have been able to move forward and with the assistance of our Premises Manager and Royal Borough of Greenwich Council, we have completed Oak Lodge.

 

Oak Lodge has two teaching spaces on the ground floor (Vista and Horizon)- for use by pupils who may have been out of school for long periods of time, for pupils who need additional support in order to gain qualifications (academic and vocational) and for targeted support for current in-house pupils who need additional input in basic skills in a smaller environment. These spaces are utilised by our outreach worker and in-house staff.

 

On the first floor we have two therapeutic spaces (Canopy and Outlook), where our trained Trauma Informed staff can work with identified pupils - either through Trauma Informed practice or giving them a safe space to talk and work through their concerns.

 

There is a smaller space outside (The Croft) for pupils who may find even a classroom type space difficult to manage due to their previous experiences.

 

We are pleased that the Royal Borough of Greenwich have recognised the importance of this work, and moving forward in 2024 will commit to an SLA to support the most vulnerable within the system.