The Skills Hub

TRAUMA AND MENTAL HEALTH INFORMED SCHOOL AWARD

The Skills Hub (TSH) is a co-educational Alternative Provision (AP) that caters for students in the London Borough of Hillingdon who cannot attend mainstream school for a variety of reasons, predominantly permanent exclusion. Due to the nature of the provision and the range of students’ needs, its cohort is transient; students join and leave at different points throughout the school year.

The Skills Hub works with many different groups of pupils over a wide age range including:

• Pupils that have been fixed term or permanently excluded from school
• Pupils that are at risk of permanent exclusion
• Pupils with an identifiable special need which does not require a statement of Special Educational Need e.g. young mums, pupils that are unable to attend school for medical reasons
• Pupils requiring education other than at school e.g. disaffected pupils
• Pupils who require additional support in school
• Students that have moved in Hillingdon and are without an immediate school place

The Skills Hub was inspected by Ofsted in Spring 2018 and received a judgement as ‘Good’: “Since 2016 TSH has been part of the Orchard Hill College Academy Trust. An outstanding college for primarily adult learners who have a range of complex needs and disabilities.” Ofsted Report, June 2018.

Our curriculum is designed to deliver the central vision for our students – Excellence through Compassion.

The Skills Hub aims to be a safe, compassionate and inclusive learning community that recognises the uniqueness of its learners and celebrates their success. We are dedicated to helping our young people develop the knowledge and skills that reflects the best of their abilities, that will enable them to sustain healthy relationships, become gainfully employed and lead enriched lives.

We believe with the right support we can help our students to make successful transitions at each point in their school career, whether it be back to mainstream schooling, from KS3 to KS4 or their transition to further education, training or employment post 16. These skills should then be transferable to make them successful adults in the wider world.

We vigorously challenge bullying, racism, homophobia and discrimination of any kind. Much is done through assemblies, staff training and school events. We provide a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum for our students.

As part of our commitment to engage and develop the soft skills that are required for future success, we are delivering both The Prince’s Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Schemes. Intervention programmes are part of the curriculum offer in order actively promotes to support and develop language and life skills.

Overall Assessment:

"There are examples of excellent trauma-informed practices in this setting. The Skills Hub takes a holistic approach to the needs of young people. This approach addresses the diverse needs of vulnerable teenagers, recognising the interconnectedness of their physical, emotional, and mental health and starting there to build a programme of educational support.

Training for all staff members to understand the impact of trauma on teenagers' development, behaviour, and well-being is provided. This education helps staff to recognise trauma-related needs, to respond empathetically, and to avoid re-traumatization.

The school has worked hard to establish physical and emotional safety where teenagers feel secure and respected. This includes creating physical environments that are calming, predictable, and conducive to healing, as well as fostering a culture of trust and confidentiality. The new school building was cited as being an important change for the school, one that afforded the staff to communicate to students that they believed they deserved the best that they could offer, both in physical and relational resources.

There is a continual emphasis on the development of positive, trusting relationships between staff and teenagers. Senior leads encouraging consistent, supportive connections that help create a sense of belonging and attachment, essential for healing from trauma. There is room to embed and expand on this work by articulating the school’s trauma informed practice in school policies so that the momentum of change can continue.

The teaching and learning team work hard to tailor support plans to meet the unique needs of each teenager. This involves conducting thorough assessments to understand their trauma history, triggers, strengths, and specific support requirements of each student and to ensure that children with undiagnosed need get the support they need as swiftly as possible. This ensures that all children have opportunities to make academic progress. A “bespoke and flexible” approach to the curriculum offer means that each young person gets a programme of support that best meets their needs, interested and long-term goals.

The team at this setting work hard to ensure young people who are ready to re-integrate back to mainstream are afforded every opportunity for a school return. It is planned for meticulously and there is fierce determination to scaffold the re-integration by outlining to mainstream settings what support will be needed academically and relational, and checking that this is in place, before the move happens. A link is made with a potential EAA in the mainstream setting and the lines of communication are kept open between them and TSH until the transition has been reported to be successful.

There is a huge emphasis on empowering teenagers by involving them in the decision-making processes concerning their education and care. Providing choices and autonomy helps rebuild their sense of control and agency, crucial after experiencing trauma and the sense of powerlessness, rejection, and shame that the experience of school exclusion inevitably brings.

This setting recognises and respects cultural diversity and implements practices that are sensitive to teenagers' cultural backgrounds. Understanding how cultural factors influence experiences of trauma and healing is essential for providing effective support and the senior leadership team use their knowledge of the life of each student, as well as their own lived experiences, to help staff understand the challenges these young people face and to empower staff to meet the needs of each student with kindness, compassion and empathy." - TISUK Assessor