Moore House Academy Bathgate
Moore House Academy: Bathgate, is located in West Lothian, in central Scotland. The school provides small group specialist day and residential care and education, including therapeutic support, for children and young people aged 11 to 18 years. However, where appropriate, our young people are supported to access local mainstream schools. Our young people experience social and emotional difficulties, arising from early childhood trauma, dysfunctional family support and mental health needs, occurring often as a result of unemployment and extreme poverty, as well as drug or alcohol abuse. Their challenging needs and barriers to learning prevent success in learning, life and work. Almost all our young people have been excluded from school and have significant gaps in their learning. Many have experienced several care placements.
Our staff work within the underpinning philosophy of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), thus promoting our nurturing and healing ethos and the development of strong relationships in order to gain the trust of each child or young person. We have a strong focus on health and wellbeing and work with partners to help build resilience in our young people.
All our teachers are fully qualified and registered with the GTCS. Our skilled and qualified day care staff add invaluable support. We provide flexible and creative learning opportunities within carefully planned personalised learning pathways that are rooted in the framework of Curriculum for Excellence. We ensure full entitlement within our BGE curriculum, including utilising the potential of interdisciplinary learning for some young people. Our young people at the Senior Phase are supported to achieve National level qualifications at an appropriate level that can include Highers, as well as other broad nationally recognised achievements. Work experience and links with colleges help to develop our young workforce. Our care and education staff plan and work together closely for the young people who live in our homes to ensure consistency across our 24 hour curriculum.
Regular self evaluation at all levels and careful tracking of progress helps us to disseminate good practice as well as to respond quickly to any identified issues.
Please have a look at the relevant prospectus linked below for a more in-depth view of Moore House Academy: Bathgate.
Loving Literacy
Most of our children and young people arrive at our school with poor literacy skills and a strong dislike of the English classroom. Some are clearly dyslexic and their struggles in the past with all things to do with literacy have often resulted in feelings of failure and a real reluctance to participate in anything to do with reading and particularly writing. Many of our young people have not been read to in their early childhood and have not experienced the joy that stories or poems can bring.
However, attitudes change when they see the door of our English classroom. Who wouldn’t want to investigate a little further?
And once inside – the fun really begins! Look at the exciting colour coded word wall where new and fascinating words appear when someone uses them.
How do you persuade reluctant students of English to get to grips with different figures of speech? The understanding of juxtaposition and alliteration comes easily to our young people now, and their use of these in their creative writing is astounding.
There’s no doubt from the illustrations that the analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, albeit adapted by Philip Pullman, caused quite a stir but it did promote a desire to read, discuss and write.
And the caterpillar teaching Alice to cope with her challenges in Wonderland most certainly stimulated discussion amongst our own young people.
It’s so refreshing to see our young people begin to enjoy the love of literacy, and learn these important skills that they need for their future learning and living.