“Excellence for Everyone”

West Oaks School Is an all-age 2-19 specialist provision catering for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties, communication difficulties and those with a diagnosis of autism. The school operates over three locations.

Our main site is based in the inner city Meanwood area of Leeds and is known as Woodhouse Learning. Our Woodhouse site opened in September 2015 and due to demand for our places, we added a £10 million extension to our site which opened in September 2021. The additional facilities include 3G sports pitch, rebound facility, life skills flat, science lab and multiple specialist areas.

Our provision based in Boston Spa, a village on the North East outskirts of Leeds opened in 1976 and has a strong focus on outdoor learning and has recently been refurbished to include new teaching areas, 16+ Bistro, daily mile track and MUGA.

Our third site, Headingley Learning, opened in September 2022 in a Grade II listed building, and provides a base for a further 125 West Oaks pupils, a Training and Development Centre, Therapeutic support with a strong outdoor and inclusive curriculum. 

All our sites, Boston Spa Learning, Headingley Learning and Woodhouse Learning embrace the same vision for educating children and young people. West Oaks is proud of its inclusive and innovative practice where every child and young person’s needs are met with no compromise. A place where we strive, alongside parents, carers, and Leeds LA to achieve the very best outcomes for everyone.  The learning needs of all our pupils are at the core of our thinking, with a positive culture driving excellence for everyone within our school and college community.

Our learners reflect the wide ethnic and cultural diversity of the city of Leeds.

We design and teach a broad and balanced curriculum, highly differentiated through five distinct pathways to incorporate the needs, interests and motivations of all our 500 pupils. We celebrate individualism at all levels and have a reputation for being ever-responsive to the needs of our pupils. We believe that pupils learn best and enjoy learning when they are actively engaged in practical experiences and are confident in established routines.

Boston Spa Learning

Boston Spa Learning is set within a small rural location and has been established in the village of Boston Spa, near Wetherby for over 45 years. It is very much a part of the village community, and we make good use of the rural setting to enrich our curriculum.  We have created real and meaningful work-based experience for our 16+ learners through our WeCanDo Company.

The pupils’ abilities range from very early developmental levels upwards. Pupils are transported from all parts of Leeds and some travel from North Yorkshire making our pupil population rich and culturally diverse.

Woodhouse Learning

Woodhouse Learning was established as a response to the growing pressures on high quality special school places in Leeds. The building was funded by the Education Funding Agency. West Oaks was asked to develop the provision from the plan and design stage, to build and then take on the leadership of the site to complement and expand the provision already established at Boston Spa.

Woodhouse Learning is based in the inner-city area of Meanwood, 13 miles from Boston Spa.  The building covers 4 levels and is very modern and spacious in design.  Pupils are transported from all parts of Leeds making our pupil population rich and culturally diverse. This is our largest site and we have pupils from Early Years to Key Stage 5 at this site. A £10 million expansion was completed in August 2021 to provide additional accommodation to meet growing need for SEN places.

Headingley Learning

Due to the demand for West Oaks places, we have expanded our provision for a third time. Our Headingley Learning site on Buckingham Road is situated only 1 mile from our Woodhouse Learning campus and complements our inner-city provision perfectly. This new provision opened in September 2022. 

Headingley Learning provides places at KS2-KS5.

Vision and Values

We pride ourselves on our educational philosophy knowing that whatever we do it is always children first and we strive for excellence for everyone within our school community.

Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of all children and we expect our staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  The successful candidate will be subject to a Disclosure Barring Service Check (formerly Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure).