About Us

Inspire Nurture Thrive

Culverhill is a special school that provides a high quality and holistic education for 140 pupils with complex learning difficulties aged 7-16 situated in Yate, South Gloucestershire. Our curriculum is a balanced mix of academic subjects, vocational, life-skills and employability learning, personal development and emotional health and well-being support which aims to equip our children and young people for healthy, happy, fulfilling, independent lives and the skills to gain meaningful work as they become young adults.

Culverhill School is an academy and part of Enable Trust. Enable Trust strives to improve outcomes, opportunities and life chances for pupils across our schools and beyond. For more information about the Trust, its aims, vision and values please visit www.enabletrust.org.uk.

All of our pupils have an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) which refer to coexisting complex needs with specific designation of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). We understand how our children learn best and how to embrace the challenges they face so we maximise their learning potential.

Our young people are taught in small classes using practical, flexible and creative approaches which take account of their preferred learning styles. Learning is broken down into small steps with lots of visual, tactile and sensory clues with many opportunities for generalisation, reinforcement and consolidation. We personalise the pupils’ learning experiences, making them fun and exciting to ensure they engage and make the best progress possible. We have a highly dedicated, passionate and creative team of staff, all who work tirelessly in the best interests of our pupils no matter what their role in the school. Each class has a teacher and two teaching assistants which enables each pupil to maximise their learning and development whilst encouraging their independence, resilience and self-confidence.

All of our young people have Speech, Language and communication Needs and require additional support either in terms of their speech and language development or in knowing what is the appropriate thing to say in different social situations. Pupils need help with recognising and expressing feelings appropriately and in building relationships with others. Our curriculum therefore has a strong focus on speech, language and communication, social and emotional development and well-being. This academic year we are introducing the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme in Year 9, extending this in future years to Years 10 and 11.

Staff and governors here work closely with parents and other professionals to make the most of a child’s strengths and interests, ensuring that they feel engaged, happy and safe and enabling them to maximise their individual potential. We build self-esteem, resilience, confidence and independence in our whole school community in an atmosphere where everyone is valued and individual achievement and success is always acknowledged and celebrated.

Every child is treated as an individual and taught and assessed from their own starting points, having personalised learning pathways that enable them to develop their individual potential. At KS4 we offer a range of accreditation but also aim to enable pupils to acquire the life skills that they will need to access independent living and work. Years 9 and 10 engage with work experience and there are opportunities for extended work experience as needed. We ensure that all pupils have a college place to go on to when they leave us at the end of Year 11.