The Redway School, Milton Keynes

The Redway School is an all-age (2-19) state special school for children and young people who experience severe learning difficulties. It makes provision for those who need to be educated in a special school in Milton Keynes and its close environs.

Located in Netherfield, Milton Keynes, southern central England and is so called because it adjoins two "Redways" of the Milton Keynes redway system. Redways are an approximately 170-mile (270 km) network of cycleways/paths for cyclists and pedestrians. They are generally surfaced with red tarmac, and criss-cross most of the city.

Ruth Sylvester is the school's second headteacher. She took up her post in September 2005.

The school is at the present to time secure, however the local authority, in common with all other ones, has to keep its special schools under regular review.

History

The school opened on 26 April 1993, upon the closure of Oliver Wells (Physical Difficulties) and Queens (Severe Learning Difficulties) Schools. Until September 1993, the school had two sites, in Netherfield and at the Queens campus on Whalley Drive. From September 1993 and until about February/March 1997 the school occupied the Whalley Drive site whilst the Netherfield site was extended and refurbished.

The reason that the extension and refurbishment took so long was that the first scheme was not allowed to go ahead. It was called off in January 1994 by the Department for Education (DfE). This was because the local education authority, it was then Buckinghamshire County Council, had not complied with all the DfE requests and had not listened to the parents.^[1]

From 1 April 1997 the school became the responsibility of Milton Keynes Council.

In February 2003 OFSTED's annual report named The Redway as a "particularly successful school".^[2]

Facilities

The school is now located in Netherfield, near to both the city centre and Milton Keynes General Hospital. Its specialist facilities include a dark room, a light stimulation room, soft play room, music room, design and technology/art room, secondary and primary food technology rooms, a hall, a conservatory, a flat within the Post 16 department for the teaching of independent life skills, a gym and a hydrotherapy pool. It also has a family room, a large meeting room, a library with a Connexions Point, and a suite of therapy rooms used by the medical professionals who work alongside school staff.

Staff

All pupils benefit from the enhanced staffing ratio that The Redway School provides. On average there are 6 – 8 pupils in each class with a teacher and a number of specialist teaching assistants, which is based upon pupil need.

Medical and other professionals

The Redway School has its own school nurse and there is support from other professionals from health and education including speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists etc.

References

Notes

Sources

• The Redway School at Ofsted

External links

• "The Redway School - Welcome - Welcome". www.theredway.net. Retrieved 2009-10-21.