Pathways is a new all-through special school for pupils with severe Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties, who, for a variety of reasons find mainstream school challenging to manage. The school is part of the Eko Trust family of schools. As an Eko School there is a focus on innovating practice and inspiring teachers and support staff by collaborating with staff from other schools. Eko Trust is now a group of 6 schools, 2 of which are SEMH settings.

 The vision for the Trust is “Every member of our community is empowered to learn, to be ambitious and to be resilient”. Eko Trust Schools collaborate to achieve world class outcomes for our children, young people and families; develop flexible, innovative approaches to learning to build our centres of excellence; invest in high quality support and development across diverse schools and support and challenge each other in an inclusive environment.

The school provides full time places for pupils. The school’s vulnerable families are directed to the school by the Local Authority who believe that Pathways School will be the best in the local area at supporting the needs of the families and pupils. Most pupils have underlying complex special needs including speech, language and communication difficulties and increasing numbers, particularly among the older pupils, have mental health problems. All pupils have or are in the process of being assessed to have Education Health and Care (EHC) plans issued. 

The school is dedicated to partnership working, with parents/carers, mainstream schools, other education providers, and a range of other agencies involved with young people with SEMH needs. This commitment to the social inclusion of our pupils aims to address the severe social, emotional and mental health difficulties presented, the challenges their families face and the subsequent attendance issues that manifest themselves.