Meath School

I CAN's Meath School is a day and residential non-maintained primary special school for up to 75 pupils aged 4 to 11 years, where severe and complex speech, language and communication needs, including Asperger Syndrome, is the primary disability.

Most pupils will have a complex profile of special educational needs including learning, medical sensory and motor co ordination difficulties. Speech, language and communication needs will override these to be the foremost barrier to learning. Some pupils may also have a learning style associated with mild ASD characteristics.

Places at Meath are largely funded via Local Authorities, but payment by families will be considered.

To find out more, download the prospectus here.

The school welcomes visits from parents/carers, professionals or representatives of a Local Authority.

Visits by Parents

Meath School welcomes arranged visits by parents and carers who wish to learn more about the work of the school and whether it could meet the needs of their child. Visits usually last between one and one and a half hours and can be arranged directly with the school using the contact details below.

Visits by Professionals

The school welcomes half day visits from Local Authorities, and other professionals and representatives who have specific interest in, or involvement with, children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). This can be arranged through a telephone call or email to the deputy head teacher. They will discuss your specialism and interest in order to plan the most productive use of your time here. The usual arrangements are a mix of classroom observation and discussion with relevant professional staff.

The Meath Centre has a "Learning through Practice" CPD opportunity. Small groups of six staff can see the Meath centre in action and then learn more about specific aspects.

More information about the Learning through Practice day and how to book places can be found here or contact the Training Department training@ican.org.uk

Ofsted Inspections

The most recent Ofsted report (January 2008) is highly positive about the work of the school and the progress which our children make. The report makes it clear that at I CAN’s Meath School “Achievement is outstanding across the school because of the total care and education package it offers. The highly collaborative approach of the multi-disciplinary specialist staff is a significant strength. This ensures that every learner makes excellent progress, and especially fast progress is made in developing communication skills. The curriculum is excellent and provides a language focused learning environment throughout the day. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. Resources are managed particularly well thus achieving excellent value for money.”

Download the latest Jan '08 Ofsted Inspection Report here.

The overall judgments of this and the Residential Care inspection (March 2010) were ‘outstanding’.

Download the latest March'10 Ofsted Residential Care Report here.

Meath School features on the Ofsted Outstanding Providers List 2007-08. To see click here.

Outreach

Meath's Outreach service can provide, audit, advice and guidance for statutory, voluntary and commercial sectors. It focuses on developing staff knowledge and  skills,  so ensuring the support of all children’s  communication skills, especially those who struggle more.

Links with the community

Headteacher Janet Dunn says, “As an I CAN school we have are in a  unique position. Our pupils come from some 22 local education authorities and although we are geographically located in Surrey, we don’t belong to one local authority. However, we do belong to the local authority confederation – Runnymede South Confederation. We work with 11 schools, mostly primary and a couple of secondary, and are the only special needs school within the Confederation. This partnership means we can share our expertise and raise awareness of speech, language and communication needs, and staff can learn from the experience of others. It also provides our pupils supported experience of playing and working alongside their mainstream peers wherever appropriate Our pupils are going to become part of the community, so they need to be part of inclusive experiences wherever possible."

Download the Spring 2010 prospectus here or the 2009/10 term dates here.