Welcome to Crosshill Special School. We are an outward looking and successful school for children with special educational needs. We are an inclusive school, co-located with Blackburn Central High School, a mainstream secondary school.

We are committed to providing outstanding opportunities for all our students to enable them to become the best that they can be. We do this by providing excellent teaching and support and an inspiring curriculum enriched by latest technology. This enables our students to overcome a diverse array of learning difficulties and additional challenges, to grow in confidence and to become successful, caring young people prepared to move into adulthood.

Crosshill is a Foundation Trust Special School which caters to students aged 11 to 19 years (secondary phase with post 16 -19) who are in receipt of an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) or Statement of Special Educational Needs regarding their identified Learning Difficulties.

We cater for a wide range of different needs but the majority of students main identified need is associated with language and cognition difficulties (SLD/MLD/GLD).

Our students often also display a second need which is usually associated with speech language or communication needs (SLCN), Autistic Spectrum (ASD), Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI) Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) as well as a variety of physical or medical disabilities or conditions.

Crosshill is unique in being collocated with Blackburn Central High School, a mainstream school.

We are a Foundation Trust Special School catering for students aged 11 to 19 years (secondary phase with post 16 -19) who are in receipt of an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) or Statement of Special Educational Needs regarding their identified Learning Difficulties.

Crosshill at BCHS caters for a wide range of different needs but the majority of students main identified need is associated with language and cognition difficulties (SLD/MLD/GLD).

Our students often also display a second need which is usually associated with speech language or communication needs (SLCN), Autistic Spectrum (ASD), Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI) Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) as well as a variety of physical or medical disabilities or conditions.

Caring
Crosshill School values the positive relationships it has built between staff, students, parents and carers. The friendly environment enables students to feel valued and trusted as individuals and mutual respect is shown for each other.

Raising Achievement
Our educational aim is to raise the achievement of our pupils by using various styles of teaching and different situations; all students are encouraged to reach their targets

Outstanding Opportunities
Crosshill School offers the most amazing opportunities to learn outside the classroom, exploring a variety of exciting learning experiences.

Secure and Supportive Environment
Crosshill School provides a secure environment where all students feel safe and protected. Where required, students are provided with 1-1 support to enable them to make progress in their work.

Shared Experiences
Students learn by watching others and sharing their knowledge. Group work is encouraged where all students are able to use their own interests, skills and ability to work together.

Happiness
Our students are happy and enjoy positive learning experiences that enable them to feel successful and fulfilled.

Individuality and Independence
All students have an individual education plan that provides relevant learning objectives to ensure progress is made and all activities meet their needs. Crosshill strives to provide opportunities at all ages.

Leaving and Moving On in their Lifeskills
Lifeskills is embedded in the curriculum and therefore enables students to make positive decision about their future. Crosshill provides excellent transition support for students leaving Crosshill and moving onto further education at local Colleges with the help of the Careers Service. Their success is our success.

Leading in Innovative Technology
Crosshill School uses the most up to date technology for learning and students have iPads to support curriculum learning. Other resources include lap tops, 3D TVs and interactive touch screen technology.

About the trust

BCHS is a mainstream 11 -16 school with 900 students on roll. It is a highly diverse and multi-cultural school, and it serves the most deprived ward in Blackburn; its deprivation indicator is almost double the national average. Around half the students are deemed to be from disadvantaged backgrounds and thus the school attracts substantial additional ‘pupil premium’ funding. Additionally, BCHS has significantly more than the national average proportion of students with special educational needs. There are a high number of students with education, health care plans (EHCPs), several needing support for issues relating to social, emotional and mental health (SEMH).

Crosshill Special School is also an 11-16 school and it currently has 67 children on roll, all with EHCPs. The main identified needs of the pupils are in the areas of language and cognition. Its pupils often also display additional needs, which is usually associated with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), Autistic Spectrum (ASD), Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI) and SEMH.

Lotus School opened in 2020. This is a brand new special school which was awarded to the trust by the Department for Education as a result of a free school competition with BCHS and Crosshill as key partners. It will cater for 48 children with a wide range of social, emotional and mental health.

The trust has benefitted from some skilful people who have helped with the free school and the existing schools’ conversion to academy status. The new arrangements are currently being developed and some of the initial team have also expressed interest in roles at varying levels in the new governance structure.