Beal High School Communication and Learning Department

The Communication and Learning Department is a provision for secondary age students with social communication difficulties including autism and asperger syndrome. Places are offered to students whose needs cannot be met in their local secondary school and for whom a special school placements would also be inappropriate. To be offered a place, students need to be able to successfully access mainstream academic and social opportunities on a part time basis. There are places for 30 students within Key Stages 3 and 4 with a maximum of six places for Year 7 students each September.

Within the provision, students are based in small class groups. They are taught the National Curriculum which has been differentiated to meet their needs. They also have access to a specialist curriculum, which includes speech and language therapy. In addition, each student has a personalised mainstream timetable, which is supported by a team of inclusion learning support assistants. All the students access mainstream for varying amounts of time. Once a student begins to access over 50% of the week in mainstream lessons, then consideration is given to a transfer to their local secondary school. Once they reach Key Stage 4, students may access some GCSEs and similar mainstream courses with support. A range of qualifications within the foundation Learning Tier is also offered to students. There are also links with local colleges during Key Stage 4.

Once the students reach the end of Key Stage 4, they may move straight to college, but if it is felt that they will benefit from an additional transition year, to facilitate a move to a further education college, then students are able to stay until Year 12. During the transition year, the students continue to work towards qualifications within the Foundation Learning Tier and also access one day work experience and one day at college every week.

Local SEND Offer 

All schools are required to make available their Local SEND Offer to families which details how they can support children and young people with a special educational need and/or disability (SEND). Please see the Related Links on this page to go to this school's Local SEND Offer or go to their main website below.