The Parkwood HUB
The Hub has been carefully designed to provide a calm, nurturing, and highly structured environment that supports children who benefit from a more personalised and sensory-informed approach to learning. Its purpose is to help students feel safe, regulated, and confident, before they begin their carefully designed learning experience.
Aims and Intent
The HUB is an enhanced provision which enables pupils with an EHCP to access a specialised curriculum that supports children to work towards achieving outcomes identified in Section F of their EHCP.
The HUB intends:-
- To give pupils access to an alternative curriculum appropriate to their cognitive levels of development.
- To meet pupils’ special educational needs,
- To work alongside other children and adults in school, so pupils can begin to tolerate the proximity of others and help to negotiate their environment.
- The provision enables a structured learning environment aimed to reduce the stress and anxiety associated with ASD, facilitating the child’s independence. In this way a context is provided where higher social and communication skills can emerge.
- The aim for pupils in the provision must be defined by each pupils’ needs, and we therefore consider the way in which their needs affect each pupil’s capacity to learn.
In order to meet our aims for pupils, the HUB has established the following organisational aims:
- To provide a structured teaching/learning environment.
- To observe and assess pupils, in order to provide opportunities for appropriate teaching and learning.
- To provide opportunities for individual and small group teaching and opportunities for pupils to work independently.
- To work in partnership with parents/carers.
- To liaise with other professionals and therapists, as part of a multidisciplinary approach.
The Hub Curriculum
The curriculum is designed to build both academic and personal skills in a way that feels achievable, supportive, and meaningful for each child. Students in The Hub follow the adaptive “Sensory Curriculum”.
It is a sensory and regulation-focused approach including elements of the Equals Curriculum, supporting communication, independence, and life skills. There is targeted phonics provision, with some students accessing phonics alongside their like-aged peers, and opportunities to re-join their class during lunch, break times and at the end of the day, to maintain strong peer connections.
Skill Development
Through The Hub, students are learning and strengthening:
- emotional regulation and self-awareness
- communication and interaction skills
- independence and confidence
- focus, engagement, and readiness for learning
- positive routines and transitions
Social, emotional, and academic growth
In the short term, we are already seeing students settling quickly into routines, feeling calmer and happier at school, and engaging more positively with adults and peers. Over time, The Hub aims to build resilience and independence, support reintegration into classroom learning where appropriate, equip students with strategies they can use across school and beyond, and build life skills and support communication.
Daily Experience
On a daily basis, students in The Hub follow a clear and predictable schedule, take part in hands-on, sensory-rich activities, use specialist resources designed to support regulation and engagement, enjoy social interaction with their like-aged peers several times throughout the day and are supported by a consistent and caring team of adults.
The Parkwood HIVE
The HIVE serves as our dedicated Nurture Provision, a specialised sanctuary designed to support selected children navigating social, emotional, or mental health (SEMH) challenges.
Grounded firmly in the evidence-informed Nurture UK principles, the HIVE operates on the understanding that for children to achieve academically, their emotional and developmental needs must first be met. By prioritising the six principles of nurture—such as viewing all behaviour as communication and recognising the importance of transitions—the HIVE provides a predictable, safe, and relational environment.
In this space, students who may find the standard classroom overwhelming are given the tools to build resilience, develop secure attachments, and cultivate the emotional regulation necessary for lifelong learning.
Aims and Intent
The HIVE is an enhanced provision which enables pupils with SEMH needs to thrive.
The HIVE intends:-
- Children’s learning is understood developmentally
- The classroom offers a safe base
- The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing
- Language is a vital means of communication
- All behaviour is communication
- The importance of transitions in children’s lives
- The aim for pupils in the provision must be defined by each pupils’ needs, and we therefore consider the way in which their needs affect each pupil’s capacity to learn.
In order to meet our aims for pupils, the HIVE has established the following organisational aims:
- A safe environment
- Routine and structure
- Developmentally responsive teaching
- Adult attunement and co-regulation
- Social skills and emotional learning activities
Nurture groups
A nurture group is a focused, short-term intervention for primary school pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties which make it harder for them to learn in a mainstream class.
Nurture groups have run in the UK for over 50 years and are now an international intervention. A nurture group is a school-based intervention run a member of staff and small group of children. The aim is to replace missing early experiences by developing positive pupil relationships with both teachers and peers in a supportive environment. Effective nurture practice follows the Six Principles of Nurture. Our assessment tool the Boxall Profile® determines which pupils would require to be in the nurture group based on their social, emotional, and mental health needs.
The Parkwood WIN Room
The WIN Room (What I Need) serves as a vital sanctuary within our school, offering a calm and purposeful “soft landing” for children who may find the morning bustle of a busy classroom overwhelming. Designed as a flexible breakout space, it is available throughout the day to provide targeted social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) support when students need it most. Recognizing that the most unstructured parts of the school day—breaktimes and lunchtimes—can often be the most challenging, the WIN Room remains open as a structured alternative. Under the consistent guidance of a supportive adult, children are empowered to develop essential life skills, including cooperative play, turn-taking, and social communication, ensuring they have the emotional regulation and confidence to succeed back in the wider school environment.
Aims and Intent
Based on your description, here is a list of strategic aims and intents for the WIN Room, aligned with the Parkwood Academy values of Belonging, Compassion, Curiosity, and Empowerment.
- To Provide a Regulated Start to the Day: To offer a “soft landing” for students who experience morning anxiety or sensory overwhelm, ensuring they are emotionally regulated and ready to learn before transitioning to their main classroom.
- To Offer a Safe Haven for SEMH Support: To act as a responsive breakout space where children can de-escalate, reflect, and access emotional support at the point of need throughout the school day.
- To Structure Unstructured Times: To reduce anxiety during break and lunchtimes by providing a predictable, adult-led environment that replaces the chaos of the playground with purposeful interaction.
- To Explicitly Teach Social Mechanics: To proactively model and teach essential life skills, including turn-taking, cooperative play, and active listening, which may not be caught instinctively by all children.
- To Develop Social Communication: To facilitate small-group interactions that build confidence in verbal and non-verbal communication, helping children navigate peer relationships more effectively.
- To Promote Self-Regulation and Advocacy: To empower children to recognize “What I Need” (WIN) and give them the vocabulary and strategies to seek support before reaching a point of crisis.
- To Foster a Sense of Belonging: To ensure that every child, regardless of their SEMH challenges, feels they have a valued place in the school community where their individual needs are understood and met with compassion.
The Sensory Room
Our Sensory Room is a bespoke, immersive environment designed specifically for children who require a more enhanced “sensory diet” to maintain regulation throughout their school day. This versatile space is engineered to meet a wide range of neurological needs; it can be transformed into a tranquil, darkened “light palace” to soothe and focus the senses, or rearranged into a safe, soft-play zone for children who require high-energy “rough and tumble” to meet their proprioceptive and vestibular needs. By providing this tailored sensory input, we help students manage their physiological arousal levels, ensuring they remain calm, centered, and better equipped to engage with their learning and the school community.
Our Enhanced Provision – The Parkwood Hub
The Cocoon Room is a specialised, high-intensity support space tailored specifically for children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) who require a bespoke approach to their development.
True to its name, this room provides a protective and nurturing environment where students can feel safe to emerge from their shells and engage with the world around them.
The primary focus of the Cocoon Room is the explicit and intensive delivery of social skills training, helping children navigate complex social cues and interpersonal dynamics at a pace that suits their individual needs. By offering a low-arousal, highly structured setting, we ensure that our students with the most significant needs can work toward their specific EHCP outcomes—fostering independence, emotional resilience, and the vital communication skills needed to thrive both within and beyond the academy.