Phoenix School

Phoenix School is the education provider for all young people admitted to Cygnet Hospital Sheffield. Teaching happens within a well-resourced school unit, with specialist teachers and is equipped with classrooms and an ICT suite. The school also has access to a kitchen, gymnasium, outside courtyard and therapeutic garden.

Our Vision

In partnership with the wider hospital we provide a stimulating safe haven where everyone is valued and respected. We promote resilience and risk-taking by delivering lessons guided by our students curiosity and celebrating all successes.

We respect the students’ rights, beliefs and values providing personalised curriculums and learning opportunities inside and outside of school, which enable our students to be empowered to meet future challenges.

Photo Gallery

Curriculum

Cygnet hospital schools aspire to maintain and develop current educational pathways and/or promote future re-engagement with education, employment or training.
In doing so, we believe that students leaving our provision will stand the best chance of reintegration with community life and therefore a successful recovery journey.

Our curriculum is personalised to individual students and therefore explicit pathways vary according to personal goals and needs. This might mean mirroring a current educational pathway or choosing from a range of courses offered at our schools (or a combination of both).

Qualification type, level, tier etc. will be planned on an individual basis, and with reference to the overarching curriculum intent. Other factors such as predicted length of stay and examination plans may also need to be considered.

Due to the fluctuating nature of mental health conditions, a flexible curriculum approach is required. During particularly acute periods of presentation it may be appropriate to instead focus on stabilisation and engagement. In this situation, activities will be planned as a vehicle to improve mental health functioning in education (MHFE) with the intention to re-establish readiness for learning.

Academic Timetable

Here is an example of an academic timetable to support a student:

Phoenix School Timetable

Awards and Accreditations

The Phoenix School was awarded silver status as a Rights Respecting School in October 2021 and we now working to embed our learning and prepare our action plan for working towards becoming a Gold: Rights Respecting School.

The Rights Respecting School Award is an initiative run by UNICEF UK which encourages schools to place the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s planning, policies and practice. A Rights Respecting School is a community where children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted.

Phoenix School are demonstrating the British Values in PHSE lessons in addition to promoting specific rights e.g. LGBQT+ within the curriculum.

For the academic year 2022-2023 the Phoenix School is a registered provider of the John Muir Award, which is described on their website as “inclusive, accessible and non-competitive, though should challenge each participant.  It encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment through a structured yet adaptable scheme, in a spirit of fun, adventure and exploration.”

We understand the therapeutic value of becoming one with nature by spending time in wild spaces. Studies have shown that being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. Sometimes when young people come to us they are unable to access academic work immediately, and so we have to be flexible around providing meaningful activities that can help to make our young people feel that they are being productive.

We are also aware that climate change is a very real and imminent threat to the future of the current generation, and feel that it is our responsibility to foster a sense of ownership towards the conservation and preservation of biodiversity in the natural environment. Through the use of our allotment and the provision of the John Muir Award, our young people are taught practical skills to nurture plants and promote growth.

Contact

Katy Edmondson, Head Teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, Tel: 0114 279 3350
Mary-Jo Brayford, Deputy Safeguarding Lead, Tel: 0114 279 3350
Daniella Jackson and Katie Winter, Education Officers, Tel: 0114 279 3350
Rachel Rix, National SENCO Lead, Tel: 07738 716408