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What if I’m interested in my child coming to Fairley House?
How do I decide if Fairley House is the right school for my child?
How will you help my child?
What therapy do you offer?
What is different about your teaching?
What if my child is dyslexic or dyspraxic and really bright?
How much will my child use a computer?
What will you do to make my child more confident?
How do I tell if my child is making progress?
How much homework is there?
Are there after school clubs?
What is a typical school day like?
Do you provide school lunch?
Do you provide transport?
Where do children come from?
What school trips do you offer?
How long do children stay?
What schools do Fairley House children go on to?
Will you help us choose the next school?
If my child has a statement can he or she come to Fairley House?
Is it helpful to have a label?
What qualifications do staff have?
What sports do you offer?

 

What if I’m interested in my child coming to Fairley House?
Please telephone the office (0207 976 5456) and send in any reports you have from psychologists or therapists. This will help us to see if we are the right type of school for your child. If we feel we are, you will be offered an appointment to tour the school and meet with the Principal.
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How do I decide if Fairley House is the right school for my child?
Your child will come into school for two days. He or she will spend time in class and will also be seen by the multi-disciplinary assessment team, composed of an educational psychologist, occupational therapist and speech and language therapist. At the end of the 2 days, the team meets with parents to discuss what strengths and difficulties the child has and to explain what Fairley House could offer.
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How will you help my child?
Working from the assessment information, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is created for your child. This means that every child’s learning is personalised according to need and learning style. The IEP will tell you what the targets are and what individual and small group sessions have been arranged for your child. Children are grouped for Reading, Writing and Maths by ability. They have a small group session in these subjects every day. Other sessions, such as occupational or speech and language therapy are arranged according to the child’s needs. The IEP will tell you how often each week the sessions are held and the staff:pupil ratio. We have 3.5 pupils for each member of staff so children receive a lot of individual attention. The IEP is reviewed every term in a meeting between parents, teachers/therapists and children and new targets are set.
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What therapy do you offer?
We have seven fulltime Speech and Language Therapists and four fulltime Occupational Therapists at the school. They are responsible for both assessing the children and providing therapy to meet their needs. The children are seen for therapy either individually or in small groups and the therapists also work closely with class teachers, sometimes in the classroom, to ensure carryover of skills.
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What is different about your teaching?
We think that children learn by doing, rather than just listening to a teacher talking. We therefore make teaching multi-sensory because we know that children with specific learning difficulties remember best if more than one sense is involved. Our teaching takes account of typical difficulties, for instance with memory, reading and spelling. If a teacher gives instructions, the information will be divided into short chunks and there will be visual input, such as a picture, not just auditory input. Words will be put on the board or on a worksheet to help with spelling, if children are asked to write something. The teacher or a child will read difficult information aloud so everyone knows what a passage says. If a child doesn’t understand something, the teacher will find a different way to teach it. Teachers work closely with therapists so education and therapy can be fully integrated.
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What if my child is dyslexic or dyspraxic and really bright?
In order to come to the school children have to be of at least average intelligence. Often they are well above average with IQs in the high or exceptionally high range. We deal with this by ability grouping for many subjects. Children can be in top groups or, for instance, a top Maths group and a low Reading group if that fits their profile. Where subjects are taught to a mixed ability group, questioning and work are differentiated so that bright children are always extended.
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How much will my child use a computer?
A lot! This is because we think that using a computer is the way forward for the child with specific learning difficulties. Children have a lesson in the computer room once a week where they learn to use various programs, such as Excel or Power Point if they are older. Children learn to touch type from Year 4. Once they are competent they are given a laptop for their individual use. Most of our Year 6 and Year 9 pupils use their laptops for the writing task in their SATs.
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What will you do to make my child more confident?
Many children come to us lacking confidence and with low self-esteem. This is often because they have not been able to keep up with other children in their previous school, so they have begun to see themselves as unintelligent. We overcome this by ensuring that children experience success. Work set is within their capability and they can earn rewards by trying hard. Younger children have a mentions assembly where children are awarded certificates, star badges and star of the week stickers by the head in front of the whole school. Older children earn credits and the top credit scorers are announced in assembly. Good work is celebrated by being shown in assembly or displayed in class rooms and corridors. Children’s talents and special abilities, for instance in drama, music, art, design technology or sport, are nurtured. They also stand a good chance of appearing in a school production or playing for a school team. Children may obtain leadership positions as class captain, house captain or prefect. Each child is in a house and can earn house points.
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How do I tell if my child is making progress?
You will have a meeting every term to discuss your child’s progress with his or her class teacher and a member of the Special Provision team. A written record is kept of the meeting and sent to you. You will have a full written report and IEP review in the Autumn and Summer terms and a written IEP review in the Spring term. Your child’s reading and spelling will be retested annually using the same test that was used for the initial assessment. We also do QCA* testing annually for English and Maths. Results of any testing will be reported to you in your termly meeting and put into your child’s next IEP. You, of course, are the expert on your child and you will notice that he or she is reading more fluently, can write more, is less reluctant to read and write and is more confident.
*These are government tests that give a national curriculum level
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How much homework is there?
Homework can be a problem for some of our children as they have long journeys. Therefore for younger children, minimal homework is set. Children are expected to read every night and to practise a spelling pattern. There is Maths homework twice a week. Older children are expected to do extended pieces of writing for homework and to add subjects such as Geography and Science.
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Are there after school clubs?
Most children stay for clubs on Tuesday and/or Thursday. Clubs include:
Sports, Computers, Art, Cooking, Drama, Science, Orchestra and Sewing.
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What is a typical school day like?
At both schools, children arrive at school between 8:20 and 8:30. They are greeted at the door by the Head. Between 8:30 and 8:45 they have a form period where they register and their homework diaries are checked by their class teacher (Juniors) or form tutor (Seniors).

At the junior department, there are lessons until playtime at 10:35. After play there are more lessons until lunch and play from 12:15 until 1:15. In the afternoon there are lessons until 3:30. Lessons include Reading, Literacy Skills and Maths every day, Sports twice a week with a whole Sports afternoon on Friday, Science twice a week and the rest of the curriculum (History, Geography, Religious Education, Personal, Social and Health Education, Art, Design Technology and Information and Communication Technology) fitted in across the week.

At the senior department, there are lessons until playtime at 10:35. After play there are more lessons until lunch and play or football club from 12:30 to 1:30. In the afternoon there are more lessons until 3:30 when children go down to the hall for dismissal at 3:40pm. Lessons include Reading, Literacy and Maths every day, Sports twice a week and the rest of the curriculum (History, Geography, Religious Education, Personal, Social and Health Education, Art, Design Technology, Information and Communication Technology and French (Key Stage 3 only)) fitted in across the week.

At both schools, children receive a full curriculum and a typical day has a good mixture of fun and hard work. A day at FHS is very intensive and children will come home tired!
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Do you provide school lunch?
Yes, lunch is included in the fees. Lunch is prepared by outside caterers following our guidelines for healthy eating. Children have a choice of hot food, including a vegetarian option, salads and sandwiches. There is fruit every day and usually another pudding. Teachers eat with the children to encourage a community feeling. We also have healthy eating competitions where children can earn house points by choosing a well-balanced meal. We think that good nutrition is important for all children, but even more so for children with specific learning difficulties.
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Do you provide transport?
The school itself does not provide transport, but about half of our children come to school on buses arranged by parents. We can put you in touch with the private bus companies who can provide transport for most areas of London. We will also provide addresses of other parents to enable you to set up school runs.

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Where do children come from?
We have children from the whole Greater London area. We even have children from outside London, some from the suburbs, but we have had two pupils from Cambridge!
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What school trips do you offer?
Our central London location makes us ideally sited for visits to museums, galleries and exhibitions. We can walk to the Tate Gallery and Lambeth Palace! Children in Years 5 and above also go on a one week residential trip, accompanied by their teachers, at the end of the summer term. Typical trips have been to Adventure Centres in Cumbria, the Isle of Wight and Norfolk. Residential trips have helped children to gain confidence, independence and new skills such as abseiling or canoeing. (The cost of trips is included in the fees).
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How long do children stay?
Most children stay from two to three years at Fairley House before returning to mainstream schooling. Children can stay longer if their needs are more complex or they require a bit more help.
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What schools do Fairley House children go on to?
Click here to see schools FHS children have gone on to.
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Will you help us choose the next school?
Help with the next school is an important part of the package. The Principal is always happy to meet with parents to discuss their child’s next school. She visits schools children go on to and surveys parents whose children have left to ask how happy they are with the next school. The Principal will suggest schools parents might want to consider, based on her knowledge of the child and of schools.
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If my child has a statement can he or she come to Fairley House?
Some local authorities do place children with statements at FHS and pay the fees or part of the fees. Local authorities (LAs) have criteria for statementing children. Generally, children’s attainments need to be in the bottom 1 to 2 % of the population for a statement to be issued. Having a statement does not necessarily mean that the child will come to FHS and the authority will want to see what progress the child can make over time with support in a mainstream school. However, up to 20% of children at FHS are statemented so it is difficult, but not impossible, to have the fees paid by a local authority. It may mean appealing to the Special Needs and Disability Tribunal and the Principal will appear as a witness for families who have a strong case.
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Is it helpful to have a label?
There are two schools of thought on this. One is that a label is stigmatising and stops us thinking. According to this view it is more helpful to describe what the child’s needs are, or just to say they are ‘a bit behind’ than to label. The opposite view is that a label can structure thinking and can be a relief to a family who have wondered what is ‘wrong’ with their child. If you know that your child is dyslexic or dyspraxic you can find out information on helpful approaches and join support groups. At Fairley House we are in favour of labelling, as long as the label is supplemented by a thorough assessment of the child’s needs and there is a plan for effective intervention.
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What qualifications do staff have?
Click here to see the qualifications of our staff.
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What sports do you offer?
Children have one PE session and a sports afternoon each week. There is a choice of swimming, netball, football, tag rugby and hockey in the winter and athletics, rounders or cricket in the summer. At the senior department, the daily lunchtime football club coached by a teacher is a popular activity. We use Archbishop's Park, the Queen Mother's Sports Centre and Battersea Park as venue for our sports programme. There are school teams for football, hockey and netball, playing regular fixtures against other schools. Parents are invited to cheer the children on!
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