Behaviour for Learning Mentor

A message from the Headteacher.

Hello and welcome to The Whitely AP Academy. We are an Alternative Provision Academy serving the Calderdale area and we are based in Illingworth, Halifax. We are commissioned by Calderdale Council to provide eighty places for young people across Key Stages 2, 3 and 4. The Academy is part of Impact Education Multi Academy Trust, a Trust dedicated to improving the life chances of children and young people; my staff and I are committed to improving the life chances of every young person who attends the Academy. We hope our website will provide those who don’t know us with an insight into the work we do to support the diverse needs of the young people who attend our Academy, the website will also provide news and information for pupils, parents / carers and our partners across Calderdale.

We currently have provision for eighty pupils from Year 3 to 11. Our Key Stage 2 provision is for sixteen pupils, Key Stage 3 has capacity for twenty pupils and Key Stage 4 has capacity for forty-four pupils. Places are primarily commissioned at the AP Academy by Calderdale Council and they typically fall into two categories; the majority of places are pupils who have been permanently excluded from mainstream schools; the remaining places are for pupils who are at risk of permanent exclusion and are referred for a ‘Preventative’ placement with us.

We work with all schools across the local authority in order to support the wider effort to reduce exclusions and improve inclusive practice. We are passionate about the work we do and are dedicated to improving the life chances of the young people who attend our school. We take pride in our strong working relationships with our families, providing them with a wide range support when needed, often during difficult periods of transition for pupils and their parents / carers.

Our curriculum is broad and balanced, providing our pupils with opportunities to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills; being a small provision we are also able to ensure that our curriculum is flexible and adaptable in order to meet the needs of pupils; class sizes are smaller than in most settings, ranging from eight to eleven pupils per class, with class sizes being larger for older pupils. Throughout the school year we run a series of intervention weeks – one per half-term, typically these are linked to well-being or safeguarding.

An important aspect of our work is the established relationships we have with other agencies across the authority including Calderdale’s SEN Team, the Virtual School, Youth Justice Services and Children’s Social Care. We believe that a holistic approach to supporting young people is vital in meeting the many diverse needs of our pupils. We also work very closely with C&K Careers to ensure our KS4 pupils move on to further education, employment or training when they leave The Whitley AP Academy.