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Cornerstones is an independent school specifically established for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The school is located in a residential area, which provides the students with many readily available learning opportunities and ensures that they remain integrated members of the community in which they live. Students attending Cornerstones may have suffered sexual, physical or emotional abuse in their childhood and experienced rejection by their families. Many have experienced multiple home placements, exclusion from or under-achieving within mainstream schools, involved themselves in self-injurious behaviour or have been absent without authority. They may have unrealised intellectual abilities, experienced significant difficulties in forming positive and meaningful relationships and have difficulty in expressing their own feelings. At Cornerstones, we believe that each student irrespective of age or background has the ability to learn, the potential to grow and the capacity to change. Through a process of nurture, guidance, safety and positive learning experiences, students are able to replace past experiences of failure and underachievement with successful and personally rewarding outcomes. This allows them to revise their distorted and usually inaccurate perceptions of their own ability. They are empowered to reflect about themselves and their abilities in a more satisfying and healthy way thus offering real direction to their intellectual and personal growth. Admission to Cornerstones is coordinated by the head teacher in consultation with the Directors. Social workers, parents or carers considering a place for the child in their care are encouraged to visit the school. Arranged appointments are made through contacting the head teacher. Once a place has been offered, the child and their carer are invited to attend a pre-admissions visit where they meet the school staff and other students. Arrangements are then made to admit the child. All students begin attending Cornerstones on a part time basis and undergo assessment for the first six weeks of their placement. Attendance in the first six weeks consists of four session (a session being half a day) and usually increases by two sessions a week until a full time placement is achieved in the sixth week. The increase in timetable is determined by the students progress at school. The educational provision at Cornerstones aims to meet the diverse needs of the students through individual education programmes, small class groups and a high ratio of teachers to students supported by classroom assistants. Each class has a maximum of five students. Classes are grouped according to their age. At present there are three groups, Key Stage 2 (years 4-6) Key Stage 3 (years 7-10) and Key Stage 4 (year 11). All students have full access to the National Curriculum which is presented at a level and breadth to suit their individual needs and abilities. The core subjects of Maths, English and Science are taught or overseen by members of the core teaching team who are subject specialists in these areas. IT, Citizenship, RE and French are also taught at Cornerstones, adhering to the National Curriculum. We consider that providing extra opportunities for the practicing of social skills or educational experiences outside the classroom is of utmost importance for students who have previously often failed at school. Cornerstones is a registered AEB examination centre and as such students are encouraged to sit on-demand numeracy and literacy tests when appropriate. This allows students to become used to exam situations and provides them with the opportunity to gain recognised qualifications. Students are also entered for their SATS exams in year 6 and 9. At present GCSEs are not offered within the school. We would endeavour to facilitate any students wishing to sit GCSEs by supporting a part-time college placement or entering them for the exams through a local mainstream school. Rewarding positive behaviour is a crucial element of the behaviour policy at Cornerstones. Students are rewarded for good behaviour, achievement and effort with merit points on a regular basis. A reward scheme for attendance has also been introduced, which allows students to negotiate time out and/or alternative tasks if necessary. Those who manage 80% attendance or above receive weekly rewards. At Cornerstones, we offer our students opportunities to find new and creative ways of living-to-learn and learning-to-live. Our aims are to help the students come to terms with areas of their lives in which they have experienced marked difficulties, consolidate and support areas in which they are functioning well, realise their true potential, view education as a positive and rewarding experience and promote their successful reintegration in to a mainstream school placement.

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