Independent School for Children with Behavioural Difficulties

Learning to Listen is a DFES registered independent school for pupils requiring SEN and EBSD support. We provide academic and vocational tuition in a therapeutic environment using unique behavioural concepts and specially trained, dedicated staff.

Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds, often having experienced traumatic pasts or simply having struggled and experienced a sense of failure in mainstream education.

Places are LEA funded and the centre often takes the most difficult to place youngsters, aged 13- 19 years of age.

Learning to Listen prides itself on the relationships the team forms with each individual student. The school has a very high attendance rate and successfully reintegrates the majority of its students into further education or into the workplace.

Each pupil has an individually tailored curriculum, featuring a range of accredited academic and vocational courses and experiences support from a dedicated team and onsite behaviourist. Students acquire skills, knowledge, and emotional maturity and their self-respect and confidence is given a chance to grow.

Location & Facilities

The courtyard of traditional stone barns at Hill Top Farm is the hub of all activities. Barns have been converted to provide airy and bright classrooms whilst maintaining many of their original features, which sets them apart from a traditional school environment. This courtyard also contains a specialist joinery workshop, equipped with an extensive range of modern tools and equipment.

Adjacent to the courtyard is a sixty feet long Dutch barn converted into a mechanics workshop. This is fitted with a three tonne car lift ramp and a range of mechanics tools and equipment.

The most recently converted barn has its own kitchen and provides a recreational area for mid morning breaks and lunches. The ethos of the school is to grow produce within the farming and horticulture enterprises and where possible use this in the kitchen as part of our healthy eating policy. Students are encouraged to contribute towards the preparation of lunches weekly.

Beyond the courtyard are a range of modern farm buildings where students can safely study and practice all aspects of animal husbandry. The farm is commercially run and includes a beef herd and a sheep flock. These enterprises are key in the education of students on a daily basis.

The yard is set within 178 acres of rolling green fields which can all be accessed by our students as often as required. A variety of agricultural crops are grown and streams, rivers and pine forests provide endless opportunities for education.

Behaviour Management

At the centre of the success of the school are unique concepts developed purposely to address the challenging behaviour of pupils who have failed to engage or progress in other forms of education.

Students are assessed on an individual basis and techniques used encourage them to take responsibility for their actions. Contracts between pupils and the school are one example of a key part of the Learning To Listen ethos. On their first day, pupils write their own contracts, stating how they feel they should be praised and disciplined as a result of their behaviour. Once signed, the contracts, which encourage mature behaviour and self-management, are displayed on the notice board for everyone to see and refer to on a daily basis.

Our specially trained team work to alter the patterns of confrontational behaviour which students often expect and provoke. Instead the core principle is to ‘catch them getting it right – don’t wait for them to get it wrong’. In this way students develop the more positive habit of seeking praise rather than thriving on criticism.

School Links

As Learning To Listen is a small and isolated facility it is vital that we have become partners with other educational establishments who can provide assistance with expertise and accreditation.

Askham Bryan Agricultural College make regular visits as part of the monitoring process for our NVQ Agriculture courses, which operate at level one and two.

Craven College provide a wide range of accreditation for courses of study, which prepare young people for employment in the construction industries.

Mowbray School are our strongest and most important partner in providing expertise, and resources. The head – Jonathan Tearle is keen to support our academic programme – to this end we can compare and uphold our standards of education alongside a large and well-respected special school.

• I have nothing but praise for the work of all the staff who are part of Learning To Listen. The result of their work and the learning environment provided has enabled one very challenging pupil to develop a more positive attitude about himself and those around him. His behaviour has become more manageable and he himself has begun to discuss his own difficulties. This young man has described Learning To Listen as being “ace” – from him this is huge praise. The young people who are educated on the farm have failed in previous educational placements. They are now learning new skills and, most importantly, making a positive contribution, which all can be proud of. JONATHAN TEARLE, M.Ed., B.Ed. (Hons), Headteacher,
  Mowbray School, Bedale, North Yorkshire.