Welcome to Holly House School
Providing Positive Experiences for children.
Welcome to Holly House
Holly House School is a co-educational residential special school catering for pupils with severe Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties that impact on their behaviour. Pupils are aged between 7 & 14 years (Key Stage 2 and 3). The school offers up to 43 day places and can provide 8 residential placements on any one night. Holly House is the only school in Derbyshire of its kind.
The general profile of a Holly House pupil is a boy (though we do now have two girls) with behavioural difficulties and associated disorders that have caused problems in mainstream schools. They may have been excluded or close to permanent exclusion and have missed parts of their education. They may have been on part-time timetables or educated away from the main class. Academically the pupils are potentially at or just below national expectations, but in previous placements they have not managed to achieve this potential. All pupils admitted to Holly House have an Education & Health Care Plan. More recently pupils admitted to the school have more complex needs and we have seen a rise in the number of pupils with a diagnosis of Autism. We accept that most Holly House pupils lack the skills and self-control required to access mainstream education. It is our aim to equip pupils with these skills and prepare them for a return to mainstream schools at an appropriate time. This may be in Year 7 at the start of KS3, Year 8 or at the end of Year 9. A small number of pupils with more complex needs may not be ready for transition back to mainstream at the end of Year 9 and these will move on to other Special Schools, Support Centers or Alternative Provision.
REMEMBERING – TREE PLANTING 13/12/17
Thinking of Di Spence at this special time of year. Missed and not forgotten.
Holly House News
CORONA VIRUS
Update Monday 11th May
Hopefully the Free School Meals vouchers are getting to those that need them. We are ordering them two weeks at a time and posting them out. The next batch will be posted out on Thursday 14th May and these will take us up to the Half-Term holiday.
School is OPEN and a number of pupils are attending. We are limited in the number of pupils and staff we can have on site at any one time by the strict social distancing rules and due to a maintenance issue, we can only use New Block and Nurture. It is still parental choice as to whether your child comes to school and staying at home is still the safest option. Priority for places at school is given to children whose parents are Key Workers, Pupils who have a social worker and pupils where there are safety concerns around being at home during the day.
There is much speculation as to when the government will reopen schools. The truth is, we don’t know, but it is likely that any restart will be gradual and phased. I hope to have more information soon. In the meantime, pupils should continue to work at home and staff will continue to make weekly contact calls.
Update Tuesday 21st April
The next round of Free School Meal vouchers will be posted out later this week.
Work for pupils at home – up to now packages of work and learning materials have been sent home. This week two websites have launched a range of on-line learning packages with daily lesson updates aimed at all levels of the National Curriculum. If you have internet access, we recommend that you use both these sites. They are organised in age groups for each of the the subjects and pupils should pick the age they think they are working at. If it is too easy, move up a year. If it is too difficult, drop down a year. There is more than enough work here to keep them busy every day. The websites are
If you have any problems with these or you do not have internet access, please get in touch.
UPDATE Thursday 9th April
This link below will take you to a range of activities for parents and children. Have a Happy Easter.
http://www.thesensoryprojects.co.uk/covid19-resources
UPDATE Friday 3rd April
Holly House remains open over the Easter Holidays (closed Good Friday and Easter Monday) and phone lines will be staffed between 9am and Noon. The Government advice remains STAY AT HOME and it is expected that most pupils will be at home over Easter. Children who have Key Worker parents who need to come to school over the holiday period must get in touch to make arrangements and set up transport. Children who are vulnerable and have social care involvement and need to attend school over the holiday period are also welcome. Arrangements will need to be made through social worker so that transport can be organised.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS
The government voucher scheme is now up and running. All children on Free School Meals are entitled to a £15 voucher for each week in Term Time. They have to made out to a named supermarket. All parents were contacted on Thursday to get supermarket names. The vouchers have now been printed and posted out to all parents Today. If there are any problems, please get in touch.
WHAT NEXT?
Pupils should all have enough work to keep them busy at home. If any parents would like more work, please get in touch. If any parents would like to send work in for marking, please do. The BBC are launcing an updated website for pupils working at home. This can be found at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
We are hoping to be in a position to offer more support after the Easter holidays. An update will be provided on Friday 17th March.
Have a happy Easter holiday. Stick to the advice –
STAY AT HOME
KEEP YOUR DISTANCE
NO UNECESSARY JOURNEYS
SOME OTHER USEFUL LINKS
Derbyshire have set up a Community Response Unit to give advice and offer help where it is needed during the Coronavirus outbreak. MOre information can be found at
With children at home, many will be spending more time online and this may make them vulnerable. The following link may help you keep your children safe online.
UPDATE Monday 23rd March
Holly House School is still open, but only for children who’s parents have ‘Key Worker’ status as defined by the Government and only when they cannot be cared for safely at home and children who have social care involvement and only then when they are at risk of harm by staying at home. For more details, click the links below.
Updated plan for COVID-19 – 23/3/20
Covid-19 letter to parents 23/3/20
Advice on free school meals 20/3/20
UPDATE – Friday 20th March
Holly House School is open and will remain open up to the end of term on Friday 3rd April. See newsletter etc below for details.
I. Williams 20/3/20
LATEST ADVICE FROM DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE DfE
TUESDAY 17th MARCH
- Maintain good personal hygiene
- If you have a high temperature/fever and persistent cough or shortness of breath – stay at home. Self-isolate for at least 14 days.
- If anyone in your family has these symptoms, self-isolate for 14 days.
- Inform school
LATEST CORONAVIRUS NEWS
Please click the link below for the latest news.
Covid letter to parents 20.3.20
2019/2020 academic year
- 3 September 2019 to 25 October 2019 (39 days)
- 4 November 2019 to 20 December 2019 (35 days)
- 6 January 2020 to 14 February 2020 (30 days)
- 24 February 2020 to 3 April 2020 (30 days)
- 20 April 2020 to 22 May 2020 (24 days)
- 1 June 2020 to 21 July 2020 (37 days).
Bank holidays
- 25 and 26 December 2019
- 1 January 2020
- 10 April 2020 (Good Friday)
- 13 April 2020 (Easter Monday)
- 8 May 2020
- 25 May 2020 (spring bank holiday)
- 31 August 2020 (summer bank holiday).