Parkwood Hall Cooperative Academy 

School Description

SaLT and Literacy support in mainstream secondary school 

Parkwood Hall Cooperative Academy is a specialist school (day and residential) for 8-19 year olds who have moderate to severe learning difficulties and autism. Many of the pupils have additional needs and all students have EHCPs. 

A large Words First interdisciplinary team of therapists works within the school providing Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy x5 days a week, as well as providing many additional bespoke sessions relating to AAC, dysphagia and sensory integration, and Educational Psychology. 

The school’s Principal, Simon Collins shares his reflections on how partnering with Words First means therapy services are fully integrated within the life of the school:  


“The model of Therapy provision at Parkwood Hall is unique in that there is a member of the Words First senior leadership team assigned to the school to support with managing the interdisciplinary team and work in partnership with the school’s therapists. This has been highly beneficial in terms of successfully embedding services and ensuring the therapists consistently meet the needs of the students. Words First ensure that the specialist, targeted and universal offer is considered across the provision offered and the team are both collaborative and proactive in their approach. WF Therapists work hard to ensure that direct provision for each and every student is met, and all students receive the therapy they need. They advocate for students when they believe that more provision is required, providing specialist reports for annual reviews. They are actively involved in wider system change and get involved with sports days and other school based events. Words First therapists are fully integrated into our permanent staffing team and they also have regular contact with parents, building trust and effective rapport. Parents and teachers alike report satisfaction with the approach of Words First therapists and share the positive impact they are seeing. An example of this is expressing their praise for the high visibility of the therapists and how they are working hard to build effective rapport and relationships with the staffing team. We see the team’s positive impact on our students’ self-regulation, their access to learning and improved engagement overall.”

Simon ’ Parkwood Hall Cooperative Academy Principal

More Information

Simon says Words First are Collaborative, Committed, ,Innovative.