New school opening for children with special educational needs

A new primary school for children with special educational needs is opening next month, in Poole.

The White House School, has already been around for two years in the making, and has already been doing tours for potential future students.

It will cater for children from years two to six. The majority of pupils will have a condition on the autistic spectrum, but not exclusively.

Elle Vinall will be the school’s first headteacher, and she has been at the forefront of the school’s creation.

Miss Vinall, who is an experienced consultant headteacher, and has worked closely with children with special educational needs before, said:

“Our aim is to make sure we provide individualised, personalised, holistic teaching and learning for our children. To make sure we educate the whole child. So whilst we do really focus on academics, we’re also gonna be focusing on therapy, personal development and supporting their learning needs. So thankfully I’ve been given the opportunity to basically design my dream school.

“We’ve put great emphasis on making sure that things like yoga, mindfulness, life skills and outdoor learning are core subjects. But for us, it’s really important. Like I said earlier about developing the whole child and making sure that we’re supporting them to be able to live independent lives and have those essential life skills, such as telling the time you’ll have seen from the special clocks that we have in each classroom.

“There are so many learning opportunities you can get from growing your own fruit and vegetables, so we’re going to have a little allotment area in the garden so they can grow them. They can either sell them, or they can use them to cook with.  Just having a real appreciation for nature so mindfulness is at the forefront of our provision here.”

The White House School is part of the ARC schools. Which is an independent educational provider.

The aims for 2023 are to open four new school premises. This will have 180 new high quality specialist school places.