Highbury College is a large general further education establishment that provides a full range of vocational and academic courses and student support services including Additional Learning Support. It offers support for students with learning, emotional, behavioural, personal and mental health difficulties.
We provide education to young people with wide range of behavioural emotional and learning disabilities. Students may be working at pre-entry level right the way up to level 6 (degree equivalent) in a wide range of subject areas.
Contact us to discuss a visit and to learn more about what we can offer. A placement at Highbury College will usually start in September but we do take students throughout the year.
The decision about a placement at Highbury College is usually made via a Support Review which includes parent, carers, Highbury College staff and relevant outside agencies. Applicants are invited to the meeting to discuss their SEND needs.
When a student joins Highbury College the Learning Support team undertake regular reviews of the students’. Some of these are more formal than others. Parents/carers and other people who support the student have lots of opportunity to meet the team working with the student. Any change in needs is identified as part of this process and we will work to implement where possible.
We have a number of ways in which we formally and informally review student progress throughout the year. These include:
Highbury College enables behavioural emotional and disabled students to access the curriculum by providing fully accessible facilities and equipment, adjusting the timetable and lessons to meet learning and care needs and by providing the appropriate technology and adaptations to encourage independence.
At Highbury College every student will have an individually agreed programme which integrates their education, independence skills and other support. These will be delivered holistically for each individual student.
Each student’s programme is broken down into a system of aims, objectives and targets, which are all recorded.
In addition to the normal system of annual reports and reviews we are able to provide information on a young person’s curriculum progress and achievements to parents/carers at parent’s evenings. We operate an open door policy for parents/carers to discuss their young person’s needs at all times.
We encourage parents to get involved in a young person’s education where relevant.
Each member of our staff has the student’s well-being at the centre of their role. Students are supported by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals on-site.
A full programme of mandatory training is in place for all staff covering all the essential skills for their roles. Teaching staff are qualified and hold a range of specialist qualifications.
All our care and class support staff have an appropriate Level 2 or 3 qualification or are working towards achieving this. All have Level 2 Maths & English and some have a Dyslexia Action, SEN Level 5 Specialist Educator qualification, Level 7 Certificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements, Emotional Literacy Support Assistant Training, SEMH - Lego® Based Therapy and Speech and Language Support for Post 16s at ELKLAN.
There is also an extensive programme of specialist qualifications and training available which enables all staff to be more effective in working in the student centred manner.
Much of Highbury is accessible to people with disabilities, and where ever possible the College uses accessible rooms for groups which include a student or students with disabilities.
We work closely with both feeder schools, families and external agencies to ensure that students are supported to take their next steps. As students approach transition points we work closely with Student Central.
For a College prospectus, application form or to schedule a visit, please contact our Advice & Guidance team on 02392 383 131 or email info@highbury.ac.uk