The Treehouse

Ensuring that every child is included and that they have access to high-quality education is the key focus our learning support department.

We have excellent Teaching Assistants who support pupils within the classroom on a daily basis, working with class teachers to ensure their needs are met. Sometimes, however, pupils need extra support that requires them to have specialist intervention and that is when they access our fabulous resource, The Treehouse. Launched in September, The Treehouse, based next to the Art Room is a quiet haven of specialised learning.

The Treehouse has three main branches: in one, we now have a wonderful Specialist Teacher, Mrs Eccles who works with our pupils who have diagnosed specific learning differences. She plans and delivers high-quality specialist teaching that links directly to the pupils’ learning needs and styles. In another branch, our experienced Learning Support Tutor, Mrs Miller works with pupils with a range of needs. She teaches fine motor skills for our dyspraxic pupils, working memory techniques for our dyslexic pupils and provides high quality, personalised interventions for pupils in reading, spelling, comprehension and Maths skills. All the team work closely with class teachers and parents to ensure that strategies taught are linked into classroom and home learning.

An equally important branch, and a development that we are all proud to offer, is the “Breathe Branch” This core area of The Treehouse is a calm space, where pupils who need to, can come to relax and re-set before returning to the classroom. In this area, we have bean bags, “grass” to wiggle their toes into, calming lights, bubbles, anxiety aids and books addressing their emotional needs. Pupils can listen to relaxing music with headphones or take the time out to talk through their worries with one of our team, often working through strategies developed in their one-to-one learning support sessions.

The Treehouse is also home to the “Listening Ear” service, where at break times and lunchtimes, pupils can come to talk through any worries or concerns in this calm and welcoming environment. If you haven’t yet had the chance to see this wonderful new resource, please do pop in and see us!