We are a community special school, under the organisation of Leeds City Council. We have 242 learners on roll. The SILC welcomes learners who are aged between 2-19 years with an EHCP which is generic in classification.

We are extremely proud to lead a school that caters for a wide range of Special Educational Needs in a truly bespoke and individual manner. Our pupils have varying needs such as CMLN (Complex and Multiple Learning Needs), moderate or severe learning difficulties, social, emotional mental health needs (SEMH) or autism. Everything we do at West SILC is based around the individual and their needs, offering them specific environments at one of our 5 sites is key to being inclusive and individual.

Our pupils grow in all aspects of their lives through their time spent with us and leave us as more confident, independent and happy young people ready to access the next stage of their lives. The relationships our staff have with our pupils and their families is at the core of all the work we do, we recognise that the work we do is not solely based in the classroom or at school and it is a lifelong learning journey we are support our young people on.

West SILC is a regional centre of excellence for the MOVE programme, which supports our learners with physical disabilities to develop functional skills for everyday life – sitting, standing and for some, even walking. We provide outreach to other schools to develop these programmes.

West SILC has 5 different sites to support the varying needs and abilities of our learners:

Mainsite - Our Complex Communication and Autism (CCA), Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH) learners benefit from having the support of our onsite Parent/Carer support team, Speech and Language Therapists and Behaviour Support Team. We have onsite access to Hydrotherapy pool, multi sensory room and rebound room. Our post 16 learners manage our onsite ‘Star Books’ café. Pupils from our different sites gather here for assemblies and special events.

Farnley - Pupils with Complex and Multiple Learning Needs (CMLN/PMLD) are based at our partnership site at Farnley Academy, our pupils have access to a wide range of specialist facilities such as Hydrotherapy Pool, Rebound Room and onsite nurses.

Hollybush - Primary pupils for whom it is relevant access our Hollybush partnership, here pupils have specific SILC taught lessons but are also able to access the mainstream curriculum as appropriate.

Priesthorpe - Based in a mainstream secondary setting, where our pupils are supported by a dedicated team of West SILC staff at ‘The Oasis.’ Here we create bespoke timetables for pupils to access a combination of mainstream lessons and lessons taught by our West SILC staff as appropriate to the individual.

Powerhouse - Our Post 16 pupils benefit from the unique surrounds at Springfield Commercial Centre. With direct access to local employers and the community our pupils develop their Functional Skills preparing them to be independent learners. Here the curriculum focuses on independence, literacy, numeracy and employability. Our pupils are supported to take part in regular work related learning placements with the relevant support from our dedicated team. Our pupils also have timetabled support to work in our kitchen cooking lunches for the rest of the college. Onsite we pupils engage with our library both as part of their literacy skills and employability skills and our West SILC radio station.