Holme Court School for Dyslexic Children

Great North Road, Biggleswade, SG18 9ST

01767 312766

DOCTRINAS VERBORUM APTARE

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"The Directors of Sancton Wood School opened Holme Court School in January 2005. We had been very aware of the limited provision available for children with severe dyslexia, and had been struck by how many children were seeking places at Sancton Wood where we were unable to accommodate them. 

 

We were fortunate enough to find wonderful premises in the mid-Beds area, Biggleswade, just off the A1, providing an extensive catchment area, ranging from north London, through to Stevenage, Bedford and Cambridgeshire. We currently rent the property from the Watkiss family with an option to buy. We opened the school with six pupils, and are about to register our 20th pupil five short months later. It is clear that the need for specialized provision for dyslexic children had not been successfully met in this area, and Holme Court is able to go some way to redress this shortcoming.” (From the Cambridge International School Business Plan)

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Holme Court school entered a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Anglia Ruskin University. This partnership won several awards, as shown below.

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“Cambridge dyslexia software scoops top innovation award

March 2009

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A groundbreaking computer programme developed in Cambridge which helps teachers understand the specific learning needs of dyslexic children has won a top innovation award.

 

Holme Court School in Cambridge has been working closely with Anglia Ruskin University to develop an easy-to-use computer software package which could revolutionise the way young people with reading difficulties are taught. And with conservative estimates suggesting that one in ten of the population has some form of dyslexia the potential for the product is vast. 

 

The pioneering Learning Needs Profiler earned the School and the University a Lord Stafford Award for innovation at a glittering ceremony held on Tuesday 31 March. The prestigious awards - held in the East of England for the first time after great success in the West and East Midlands - aim to encourage closer links between universities and the business community.

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Sancton Wood School, an independent school for 190 pupils aged three to 16, has a sister school, Holme Court, 20 miles away in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, teaching up to 40 dyslexic children. The Learning Needs Profiler (LNP) has been developed through close collaboration between Dr Daniel Sturdy, director of Sancton Wood School, and Professor Eamon Strain, head of the Psychology Department at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

 

A key role in developing the project has been played by Angela Barry, researcher at the University, 

who has been seconded to the project for two years to help to bring it to fruition. The LNP seeks to overcome the 'one size fits all' approach to the teaching of dyslexic pupils by more accurately identifying the strengths and weaknesses of individual children, making teaching easier and better directed.

 

Angela Barry said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been recognised for the efforts of working for the University to make this concept become a reality. We passionately believe that this software could have a far reaching effect on the lives of many young people. Effectively, teachers face two problems in tailoring teaching methods to individual children. Firstly, a diagnosis of dyslexia is so broad it does not clearly identify the specific problems encountered by an individual child. Secondly, having identified the specific problems, it is very difficult for teachers to obtain clear evidence concerning the effectiveness of the many available intervention treatments. Our product solves both of these problems, by providing a means of converting the complex information contained in an educational Psychologist's report into an easy-to-interpret learning support profile."

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Innovative Anglia Ruskin knowledge transfer partnership wins a second award

June 2009

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The first ever winners of The Impact Awards, organised by Unico, the UKs leading knowledge transfer membership association, were announced last week at a glittering award ceremony.

 

The national UNICO Impact Awards recognise and celebrate the process of transferring knowledge and expertise from the research base of higher education and the public sector for the wider benefit of society and the economy. 



 

Awards were won for a series of novel innovations in three award categories: Business Impact, Environmental Impact and Public Policy and Service Impact. Award winners include a software project that is now installed onto 20 million computers worldwide, a new low-energy processing technology that has realised wider unexpected environmental benefit; a tool to convert complex educational psychologists reports into easy-to-interpret ‘Learning Needs Profiles’ and an initiative to improve health and reduce health inequalities. 


 

Joint winner of the Public Policy and Service Impact Award, sponsored by Research Councils UK, was the groundbreaking Learning Needs Profiler (LNP) programme developed in Cambridge which helps teachers understand the specific learning needs of dyslexic children.

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Speaking of the award winners, Chair of Unico, Professor David Secher said, ‘These awards celebrate the success of knowledge transfer and exemplify ground-breaking innovations being driven by knowledge transfer. These projects have the capacity to make a real difference.”

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He continued, “In this time of recession it is particularly important that we celebrate the achievements of successes such as these.’ The pioneering Learning Needs Profiler also earned Sancton Wood School and Anglia Ruskin University a prestigious Lord Stafford Award for ‘Impact through Innovation’ in March, and was one of the shortlisted finalists in the Times Educational Supplement’s annual School Awards in the ‘Outstanding Special Needs Initiative” category. Winners of The Impact Awards were announced at the Unico Conference Gala Dinner, Brighton Racecourse, on 11 June 2009.

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