WELCOME
TO SUNNYDOWN SCHOOL

A school that seeks to transform the lives of our young men.

Welcome to the official window into the world of Sunnydown School: our website. Whoever you are, I am confident that you will find what you are looking for within these pages.

Our weekly newsletter, recent pupil achievements, the structure of our school day, curriculum offerings, policies, national benchmarking information and even our staff lists or upcoming events are available.

Sunnydown school is a truly life-changing educational establishment often transforming the lives of our young men as well as their families. The positive atmosphere and feeling of encouragement underpins the ethos of all that we aspire to do each day.

This empathetic warmth is felt on entry to our 1850’s main building and flows into our newest developments: a brand new eight classroom teaching block with state of the art technology and an extended, light-filled dining hall.

Our Vision is aspirational – to transform the lives of our young men. Our Mission is to provide a unique learning journey for every young man, every day so that they can develop their Resilience, Independence and Cooperation through being Encouraged, Enabled and, ultimately, Empowered. We call this RICE3. We achieve our Mission and Vision through approaches underpinned by the principles of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. All staff at Sunnydown are collectively dedicated to this cause; they are hardworking, empathetic, willing to both learn and develop through reflective practice, and have our students’ best interests at heart in all that they do.

We are fortunate to be a specialist school catering for young men in KS3 and KS4. All students have an EHC Plan which identifies Communication and Interaction needs as a primary need, often associated with Autism. The young men who attend are academically able, with many obtaining GCSEs in English, Maths, Science and other subjects above a grade 4. Specialist support is in place for those who find learning more challenging. All of our young men are exceptionally well behaved, and engage in and are responsible for their own active learning.

The British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and acceptance of those with different faiths and beliefs are actively promoted throughout the school. Moreover, the Safeguarding of both students and staff is of paramount importance.

Sunnydown school is truly a unique place to learn and work; the progress made by our young men, both socially and academically, is nothing short of exceptional. This is achieved through mutually respectful relationships between students and staff and supported by the strength of rapport established with families. In essence, our success is our young men themselves, whose developing resilience and emerging belief in their own abilities sees them encouraged, enabled and empowered for a successful life beyond Sunnydown.

A picture of the school covered in snow captured by our head teacher, March 2023.