What We Do

Stubbin Wood is more than a school – it is a place that sits firmly in the community and which is striving to improve the life chances of its pupils and the families that use our facilities and expertise. We have a strong history of links and support from the local and area community, and look forward to strengthening these for the benefit of our children in the future.

School gives the opportunity for all pupils to attend Residential visits every year, from local Activity Centres in Derbyshire, to those across the country and internationally, including France, Germany, the Czech republic Turkey and China.

Our Residential visits and the work that the students do on them fits well with our work on Global Awareness and racial and cultural equality which runs throughout the curriculum and which the school supports with ‘e-twinning’ activities with a range of countries throughout Europe. Stubbin Wood has been given the Full International Award for this work.

Other Quality Marks that the school has achieved include the Basic Skills Mark (twice), the Active and Sports Marks (three times), the FA Charter Standards Mark, Healthy Schools Award, Investor in People (twice), Careersmark, Artsmark Silver, Creative Partnerships, and the Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS). School values these awards because they recognise the hard work of both staff and pupils and the quality of the outcomes. School values these awards because they recognise the hard work of both staff and pupils and the quality of the outcomes.

Coming to school is about learning and sometimes this takes place outside of school, as we have seen, or in different ways in school. We run regular termly ‘Activity Days’ where one of the curriculum faculties plans whole day events for all pupils throughout the school. In the past these have included ‘Oriental Day’, ‘France Day’, and ‘Hungry Caterpillar Day’ (with a French flavour – ‘La Chenille très Affamée’!) and ‘Rumble in the Jungle Day’ – a look at Global Warming.

Our lunchtime clubs go from strength to strength; textiles, dressing up, art, music and drama have been added to the line up over the last year.

Other ways in which the curriculum is delivered makes use of the wonderful grounds in which the school is placed. We have installed a sensory garden, jointly funded by Stubbin Wood and our on site primary school, and have plans to create more landscape art in the near future. These installations are particularly important for many of our pupils with more severe physical and cognitive needs, while within the building regular use is made of the purpose built splashpool, soft play, and Snoezelen sensory rooms.

For many pupils in school, we have developed very useful links with local primary and secondary schools, where pupils are placed for inclusion activities termly. These have been very highly valued by the pupils in each school, by the teachers involved, and by parents. So well does this work that we support placements from primary schools into our school, so that pupils with special needs in mainstream schools can benefit from working alongside our pupils in our classrooms.

Parents and families have a leading role to plan at Stubbin Wood and we are lucky to have a strong parent teacher association, the Friends of Stubbin Wood, which offers financial support for the purchase of specialised equipment. Examples include the replacement of the school minibus and drama staging used in school and Theatre Group performances. We also have a ‘Parents in Partnership’ support group which meet regularly.

Stubbin Wood recognises the need to support others and has a strong profile in supporting charity work, including Red Nose, Breast Cancer, Mencap, and others. In turn we are supported by charities and community groups and are proud to be associated with the Rotarians and their work has made significant impact in our ability to offer more than usual experiences for our pupils, including off site visits, Residentials, and equipment purchase.

Finally, Stubbin Wood sends out a termly newsletter detailing all the most recent activities. If you would like a copy, please contact us at school and we will post or e-mail a copy so you can get a better picture of our school.

Thank you for reading.