The school day starts at 9.30am to allow for students living in care homes to welcome their care staff for the day and then set out to school. The day finishes at 3.15pm but students are welcome to stay on and receive support with homework if they would like to do so.

The day consists of six, forty-five minute lessons arranged in pairs with a 15 min morning break and 30 min lunch break. The school day also includes a morning tutorial to set students up for their day and a “Well-read” literacy session immediately after lunch to allow students to settle back into afternoon lessons, whilst re-enforcing the importance of language.

For some students accessing a full day at school is very challenging and in these cases it may be more appropriate to introduce flexibility about where they learn and about building up to a full time programme.

Homework can play an important part in developing skills and independence, it allows teachers to check student understanding as well as their application of knowledge. We however recognise that homework is only valuable when young people understand why they need to do it and are set meaningful and useful activities to complete. Ultimately work completed away from school should be something that ensures resilience and progression for a young person in readiness for the greater independence of learning post 16.