Richmond Hill School

Richmond Hill School is a specialist primary school dedicated to supporting children with severe and complex learning difficulties, including a significant number who are on the autism spectrum. We provide a nurturing and inclusive environment tailored to meet the diverse needs of our pupils, all of whom have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.

 Our provision is delivered across two well-resourced sites:

 Richmond Hill West, located on Sunridge Avenue

 Richmond Hill East, situated on Crawley Green Road

 Currently, the school supports approximately 280 pupils, who are organised into 35 classes based on their age and developmental stage. Of these, 18 classes are located at our East site on Crawley Green Road, while the remaining 17 classes are based at our West site on Sunridge Avenue.

 All of our pupils experience significant communication difficulties and require highly individualised approaches to support language development. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies are embedded throughout the school to facilitate expressive and receptive language skills.

 The vast majority of pupils are working within the P3 to P8 attainment range, with a small number progressing beyond these levels. Approximately 65% of our pupils have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). These children are fully integrated into all aspects of school life, and we place a strong emphasis on creating inclusive learning experiences that promote independence, communication, and social interaction for all

SCHOOL ORGANISATION

3.Curriculum ambition: knowledge, skills & cultural capital 

Our curriculum is designed to provide a structured, sequential, and inclusive learning journey tailored to meet the diverse needs of our learners. It focuses on five key learning areas: Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Physical and Sensory, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health education), and Functional Skills. Within these areas, subjects are divided into five progressive learning levels, ensuring learners develop skills at their own pace and build upon prior knowledge.

Each learning area contains curriculum maps detailing potential learning outcomes tailored to accommodate the needs of all pupils. These maps encompass six developmental strands that support sequential learning from the earliest stages of development. :

·         Sensory Experience

·         Purposeful

·         Skill Development

·         Functional Skills

·         Intentional Applied Skills

·         Extended learning (Maths and English)

Learner Groups

• To support individual growth, learners are grouped into three broad categories of learning need. Curriculum pedagogy and learning styles are adapted to reflect the distinct needs of each group, promoting engagement, independence, and personal achievement 

1. Pre-formal: Learners requiring significant sensory, physical, and communication support. Learning is primarily experiential and sensory-based.

2. Informal: Learners who benefit from structured guidance and scaffolded learning experiences, focusing on building foundational skills.

3. Semi-formal : Learners who engage in more abstract, subject specific, independent, and critical learning activities, preparing for further education or employment.

4. SEMH pathways- Pupils unable to access the SLD curriculum (Pre-formal to Formal) follow individualised programs tailored to their interests, with a strong emphasis on regulation, PSHE, and communication skills. Support is provided through high staff ratios and input from external professionals, including Educational Psychologists, CAMHS, and the ASD team.

The school is extremely well resourced with high quality equipment and a high adult pupil ratio and good administrative support.   We have over 100 teaching assistants whose role it is to support the pupils within the class. We view the whole day as a learning opportunity and support staff assist their classes in the dining hall & playground.   In addition we have specialist teaching assistants for; ICT, PE, Gardening, who deliver learning opportunities in their particular area of expertise.

We have 3 Family Workers and 1 Family Worker Assistant who work with parents on family training, assisting with Health & Social care matters. This allows the teaching staff to be fully focused on their work in the classroom.

The school has an excellent reputation, locally and nationally.

Our vision statement underpins all our work in the school ‘To grow independence, build communication and believe that we can achieve our personal goals’ and we consider everyone; pupils, parents and adults to be learners. 

We therefore encourage everyone to take an active part in our extensive, comprehensive and ongoing training. We have a very robust induction programme. We pride ourselves in having a very friendly, fun and supportive environment where everyone likes to come and fulfil their potential.

We are very enthusiastic and creative in delivering an appropriate curriculum to our pupils and consequently the pupils enjoy coming to school and are keen to learn and well behaved.

We are very proud of our Ofsted report in March 2025 that highlighted many great things about our school and our collaborative and galvanized approach.  The Ofsted report is available on our school website.

Staff are expected to adhere to all school policies, we have a heightened safeguarding process as our children are especially vulnerable and we expect all staff to have a strong understanding of how to safeguard our children. This is supported by 5 designated safeguarding Leads.

Please see our Safeguarding Children Policy on our website www.Richmondhill.luton.sch.uk

 Please see our person specification which highlights the things that we feel are particularly relevant to this post.

Successful applicants must be prepared to work at either site although there will be discussion and due regard given to personal circumstances and skills.

We are very proud of our school and we encourage and welcome visits.  Please telephone for an appointment 01582 721019 or 01582 346171