About Us
Welcome to Addington School
Addington School is an Outstanding Special School with a longstanding excellent reputation both from our local community and nationally. Recently, we made the exciting step to be a founding member of Ascendancy Partnership Trust (APT), a trust of three Berkshire special schools with a focus on how together we can have more positive impact on the quality of education and life for children and young people with SEND. I am very proud to lead Addington School as it is such a special place, recognized by Ofsted as one that is ‘life changing’.
All our pupils have an Education and Health Care Plan and we currently have 311 pupils across both sites, aged between 3 and 19 years. We have no available places this academic year (2026/2027). Admissions are through Wokingham Borough Council’s panel. If you need further information, contact your SEND team. We do not meet the needs for all children with EHCPs. For example, children with high SEMH needs and/or more moderate learning difficulties. All our pupils’ have a primary need of severe learning difficulty or profound and multiple learning difficulty, and our school body has become increasingly complex over the last few years. Addington is split across two sites: Main Site - Woodley and Addington Early Years Centre (AEYC) located in Farley Hill. I hope that you find this website informative and that it gives you a picture of our pupils, curricula, facilities and services. If you would like to visit us, please contact the school for one of our group tours.
We are committed to delivering an outstanding education for all our children and young people to ensure individuals are prepared for next steps including adulthood. To do this we work in partnership with our families with a shared goal of excellent outcomes for all. We are champions of an integrated approach to therapy in order that it is embedded within the curriculum and has a sustained impact on individuals. We have both CYPIT (NHS) therapists on site who support to deliver therapy following the integrated approach and a newly launched APT Therapy Hub with a focus on raising standards of the universal therapy hub even further.
Most importantly, we believe in a positive ethos based on mutual respect where everyone feels that they are heard, they belong and they thrive.
Lynda Wood
Headteacher
At the main site, pupils are in school from 9.00 am until 3.15 p.m (Monday-Friday) during term time (31.25 hours a week). At Addington Early Years Centre, the hours vary slightly for different classes.
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ADDINGTON VISION AND AIMS
“Be Heard, Belong, Thrive"
Our Values:
- Be Heard: all children and young people have a right to be listened and be heard by a team who are attuned to them who will also support them to have agency and advocate for them. Their voice should have a positive impact for themselves and the community as a whole
- Belong: our diverse school community exists to foster a deep sense of belonging and connection where everyone feels they are a valuable part of the learning community and their individual contribution is appreciated.
- Thrive: A school life with a focus on meaningful and relevant learning experiences that prepare children and young people for the future and our staff to meet their diverse needs. We focus on putting in the right support and learning experiences at the right time for everyone in our community.
Our Vision:
Addington School’s mission is to maximise life opportunities and quality of life for its children and young people with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties.
We will:
- Stay true to our values
- Provide the best teaching possible through our SEND expertise ensuring that our children and young people have the best development opportunities and leave Addington as prepared as possible for the next stage in their life.
- As part of APT, we will positively impact the lives of children and young people with SEND, their families, and support networks both within our school community and beyond. We are ‘stronger and better together.’
How do we achieve our Vision?
- Inclusivity and Equity: Ensuring that inclusivity and equity is always considered when making decisions that impact our school community
- Our Educational Approach: All children and young people must have a relevant curriculum that is adaptable and meaningful so that they can maximise their communication, skills for living and quality or life/personal development. Our ‘Feel better, Learn Better’ model aims to maximise pupil achievement, progress and a range of outcomes alongside our curricula.
- Focus on Professional Learning:
Prioritise professional learning to maximise SEND expertise and have a positive impact on children and young people's outcomes always considering staff workload and wellbeing. This includes career progression and succession planning.
- Collaboration and Family Support: Building strong open and honest partnerships with families and professionals to improve quality of life and outcomes for our pupils
- Working with local authorities, health services and other external agencies: Maximising opportunities for senior leaders to advocate for our community to ensure their needs are a focus of local planning including making sure our pupils are funded to meet their needs
