How do we teach?

The hospital school offers a sense of normality and whether at the bedside, in a schoolroom or online, pupils will find the usual things that they are familiar with from their home school; reward charts, individual subject targets, house points and whole school events such as Sports Day and World Book Day.   

We teach 1:1 and in small groups and can support pupils with work that they have brought with them from their homeschool - if a pupil has a long admission then school staff will liaise with staff at their home school and plan work around the topics that they are covering. For some pupils we will design a bespoke hospital school curriculum to meet their learning needs. 

Generally, ward based pupils will receive one lesson per day of up to an hour, at a regular time agreed with the pupil and their family. This will vary based on a number of factors including, staffing, pupil age, length of stay and other appointments that must be fitted into the child’s day. As well as core lessons there will be opportunities to join in other events and enrichment activities. 

Pupils are enrolled at the school while they are inpatients at either hospital, but remain on the register of their home schools. They may attend for long, short or recurring periods of time. We take a multi-disciplinary approach and work closely with NHS teams to ensure that every child’s education is tailored to fit around their medical treatment.