Ashcroft School is a specialist school in Stockport that supports students aged 8 to 18 who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Students may also have other difficulties such as school phobia, anxiety, depression, or have diagnoses of ADHD, foetal alcohol syndrome, acquired brain injury (ABI) or autism.
Every child should have the chance to shape their future through learning. Ashcroft offers the right balance of personalised learning and intensive support to help every student break through barriers and reach their potential. Every day our students build their self-esteem, learn new skills and move towards a happy and fulfilled future. Trust us to help you get there.
Our approach
Our students are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to their hopes and dreams, help them see, understand and overcome their barriers. And give them the support to love learning again.
We base everything we do around the six nurturing principles.
- Children’s learning is understood developmentally
- The classroom offers a safe base
- The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing
- Language is a vital means of communication
- All behaviour is communication
- The importance of transition in children’s lives
This helps our students feel secure, supported and positive about their learning environment. Accredited by the Nurture Group, Ashcroft holds the prestigious Marjorie Boxall Quality Mark Award, awarded to us at the highest level.
When a student first joins us, we use the Boxall profile to assess their social skills and any challenging behaviours. This helps us to really understand what’s going on beneath the surface. It also helps us to set targets towards positive change.
From here we develop a tailor-made plan for each individual learner, making sure they’re involved in the process and their needs are met.
Our curriculum
Our curriculum is broad, balanced and adapted to meet every student’s individual needs. They’ll get to build their skills, tackle any gaps and improve their literacy and numeracy. As well as work towards recognised qualifications. We have a strong track record of students receiving:
- Unit Awards
- Entry Level Certificate (Entry Level 1, 2, 3)
- BTEC Firsts (Award, Certificate, Extended Certificate, Diploma)
- BTEC Nationals
- GCSE
- A Level
Students love our outdoor learning programme. These activities help young people develop their communication, leadership skills and teamwork. Activities include:
- Climbing
- Kayaking
- Bushcraft
- Sailing
- Orienteering
- Duke of Edinburgh Award
As well as getting outdoors, students can join in lots of other fun, creative activities. We focus on projects that have a track record of engaging hard-to-reach young people, such as drama, music, cookery, film and photography.
Our award-winning film projects have helped students explore issues in a safe and non-threatening way. As well as share their stories with the community through North West film festivals and performance events.
Watch Emma’s story and hear how Ashcroft got her hope back for the future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qczize7PLCc
If you can’t find the information you need, contact Ashcroft School reception.
SEND Offer details
Contact name
Richard Stevens
Behind every challenging behaviour is an underlying root cause. We listen to students, take the time to understand what’s driving their behaviour, and come up with a positive action plan.
Together, we can help students take control of their learning and make a change for the better. We do this through special student groups, activities and direct support and by working with parents and families.
We provide support for the whole learning journey. Each class group has a teacher and educational assistants who work with students every day. We also have specialist teachers for certain subjects and offer intensive one-to-one support where it’s needed. Alongside our academic curriculum, we also teach communication, social and life skills.
Individual student support is at the heart of what we do. Our staff are trained to support students with dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia. And we’re connected with expert clinical psychologists and therapists through the wider Together Trust services. We can also offer a full diagnostic assessment if we believe a student could have autism, followed by advice, support and specialist therapeutic input.
We take a positive reinforcement approach to managing behaviour, encouraging students by celebrating positive change. Each student also has a personalised behaviour management plan which sets appropriate limits, creates a safe learning environment, supports change and maintains placement stability.
Social, emotional and behavioural skills underpin almost every aspect of school, home and community life. Building these skills can help students learn more effectively and develop positive relationships with others. That’s why we teach Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) every single day. It means students leave with the social and emotional literacy they need to lead a healthy, happy life.
Some students struggle to put difficult thoughts and experiences into words. Play therapy helps students make sense of things by exploring their anxieties in a safe space. We have a resident play therapist and a state-of-the-art playroom with everything needed to spark a young person’s imagination. With our support, students develop confidence, coping mechanisms and a more positive view of their place in the world.
Nurture group
Our specialist Nurture Group creates a welcoming, safe environment for those students. The group offers structured play, reading schemes and outdoor activities to help students build their skills and deal with challenges confidently and calmly.
Our small, specialised unit in the School House caters for students in Key Stages 2 & 3. There are 2 groups allocated to each key stage and as there are only 4 pupils in each group, places remain very limited. Pupils referred to the Nurture Group typically had experiences in their early years that have resulted in poor attachment and difficulty establishing relationships with peers and adults. These may include such things such as neglect, bereavement or loss. Pupils are taught at a developmental level rather than their chronological age. Our nurture group:
- provides a welcoming and safe environment
- is well equipped for structured play
- has reading schemes and equipment to improve literacy and mathematical skills
- focuses on physical skills through outdoor pursuits
- helps students deal with challenges confidently and calmly
We have a high staff/pupil ratio of 2:4 to ensure that each young person receives the extensive support they need. There is a core focus on physical ability through outdoor pursuits which has is strongly linked to improving literacy skills and raising self-esteem. Classrooms are designed to provide a welcoming and safe environment with plenty of toys and materials for structured play and social interaction. Whilst academic achievement remains a high priority, there is great emphasis on the development of social skills, improving emotional regulation, strengthening resilience and reducing anxiety. There are no unstructured times during the day with pupils receiving full ‘wrap around’ care and support. After this intensive intervention we expect pupils to move on successfully to a group in our secondary provision in Cheadle or to a mainstream school elsewhere.
