Our clinical services team work as an integral part of the Spring Hill School multi-disciplinary team to support children and young people, parents and carers and other key external professionals.
Therapeutically informed practice is a fundamental principle at Spring Hill, facilitated through the use of the STEP framework. This framework provides a consistent and shared approach for colleagues across clinical, educational, and care teams to support young people effectively. It ensures all staff at Spring Hill School work collaboratively to monitor progress and promote positive outcomes for children and young people.
STEP is our three-stage journey for young people: Stabilisation, Strengthening and Transition:
Our Clinical Services interventions support
• Communication and interaction
• Cognition and learning
• Sensory/ physical needs
• Social, emotional and mental health needs
• Transition to adulthood
As they work in this way our clinical services team:
• Collaborate with key staff across the school/ care environment
• Support and develop the therapeutic environment in the education and
care setting through advice, training, consultation and provision of
specific support tools to young people and colleagues
• Maximise opportunities for young people to engage in all activities
across the curriculum and in the care setting
• Make contributions to whole school target setting and development
Our specialist team includes:
• Occupational Therapist (OT) helping young people improve their ability to perform tasks independently in their daily living and school environments; OTs support students to access their education through the development of fine and gross motor skills, sensory processing and self-regulation skills.
• Locum Speech and Language Therapist helping young people develop communication, language and interaction skills. In addition, speech and language therapists can provide assessment, advice, recommendations and direct support for eating and drinking skills.
•Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychologist provides Psychological support to promote the mental health and wellbeing of pupils. This includes specialist evidence-based, early interventions that are tailored to the pupils needs and preferences. Consultation and advice to staff and parents is also provided as part of our whole school approach to promoting our student’s wellbeing, engagement and learning outcomes.
• Senior Mental Health Support Practitioner providing care and support to children and young people in times of dysregulation and crisis.
• Thrive Practitioner supporting students social and emotional development using the Thrive Approach – a dynamic, trauma-sensitive framework designed to meet the developmental needs of all young people. Online assessments are carried out using Thrive-Online, which enables the identification of each students emotional and social needs and provides targeted, actionable strategies to meet those needs effectively. This work focuses on supporting children and young people at the right stage of their emotional development while offering reparative interventions for those with unmet needs from earlier in life. The Thrive Approach is rigorous, measurable and inclusive, ensuring that every student can be supported to progress and with the collaboration of support staff, Thrive informed strategies are consistently embedded across every day practice and interactions.
Staff skilfully work to reintegrate pupils into full-time education. As a result, pupils’ behaviour is calm and settled.”
- Ofsted, 2025
