Brittain Lane Campus

I am delighted to welcome you to the Brittain Lane website page, where you can learn more about our ethos, structure, curriculum and environment.

Our aim at Brittain Lane is to create a culture of community and care. As visitors move around the campus, they remark on the friendly, respectful relationships between pupils and staff. We take pride in knowing our pupils and their families well so that we can offer bespoke support throughout their school journey and beyond.

It is important to us that all staff follow a relational, restorative approach to developing pupils’ regulation skills. Pupils are treated with kindness and respect and, if behaviour has been unsafe, pupils will be supported, in a way that is appropriate to their developmental stage, to understand the impact of their actions on themselves and others. We support pupils to know that relationships can be repaired and we can all continue to develop our social and emotional skills throughout life.

The vast majority of Brittain Lane pupils are aged 11 – 19 and many pupils move here at the end of Year 6 from our Deansway Campus. We currently have 171 pupils on roll who are taught across 18 mixed age classes at our spacious campus off Myton Road.

Class sizes are usually around 12 pupils per class, with smaller class sizes for those with more complex needs. Classes are supported by teachers and teaching assistants with expertise in special education, overseen by Middle Leaders and Assistant Headteachers.

Class groupings are organised taking into account pupils’ ages, developmental stages, learning levels and social and emotional factors.

At Brittain Lane, we understand how tricky transitions can be for our learners so pupils are taught by their class teacher the majority of the time, rather than moving to different classes and teachers for different subjects.

Our pupils access the range of subjects from the National Curriculum, delivered in a way that is meaningful and appropriate to them. Through our termly whole-school shared topics, pupils can engage with inspiring texts at a level that is meaningful to them, whether that is play-based and sensory or following subject-specific academic learning. We also prioritise pupils’ bespoke learning targets from their EHCPs, integrated into their day.

Life skills and independence are a huge focus at Brittain Lane as pupils prepare for life beyond school. We support travel training, transition to college, and of course many pupils love working as a barista in our on-site café!

From Year 10 onwards, many pupils are able to work towards Functional Skills qualifications in English, Maths and Computing. These nationally-recognised awards can support pupils to gain access to their next stage of education.

At Brittain Lane, we are lucky enough to benefit from a pastoral team and wide range of therapists and specialists who spend time in school to meet pupils’ needs – including Speech and Language Therapists, Play/Creative Therapists, Music Therapists and many more. Our aim is to support pupils holistically as we recognise that people need to feel emotionally and physically safe and well with their needs met in order to be ready to learn.

The environment we offer enables pupils’ needs to be met beyond the classroom.

As you can see from the photos, we boast:

Classrooms with kitchen area and separate lobby/ quiet space. Most classrooms also have immediate access to outdoor space.
Playground areas with a range of accessible equipment
Music bus with performance space
2 Forest School environments staffed by qualified Forest School Leaders
Café and separate barista training area
Soft play
Sensory room
Active sensory hub (for meeting pupils’ vestibular and proprioceptive needs)
Hydrotherapy pool
Rebound therapy trampoline
Common room for older pupils to socialise
Life skills room for developing household skills
Regulation spaces
Creative hub
Banks of laptops and iPads for developing digital skills
A library, beautifully maintained by our student librarians

At Brittain Lane, we love to be out and about in the community, familiarising with the environments that will be helpful to access as adults. We also prioritise building and maintaining strong links with our families and see them as key partners within our community.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our wonderful school. Please do get in touch with any queries.

Take care,

Laura (Head of School), Sue, Clare and Sam (Assistant Headteachers) and Kelly, Lizzie and Stephen (Middle Leaders)