St Catherine's School, Ventnor 2.98

St Catherine's School, in Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, UK, is a non-maintained residential special school for children and young people aged seven to 19 years who have speech, language and communication needs. Many students have multiple conditions and a range of abilities are supported.Some of the difficulties the students have include: ADD; ADHD; Asperger Syndrome; auditory memory difficulties; autistic spectrum conditions; dyslexia; dyspraxia (verbal/fine/gross); severe expressive and receptive speech disorders; and specific language disorders.St Catherine's centre provides: specialist education; intensive speech, language and occupational therapy which is integrated into the curriculum; excellent residential facilities; comprehensive vocational training programmes; and life skills and opportunities to develop social interaction skills to prepare young people for their transition to independence.St Catherine's approach supports effective learning; builds confidence and self-esteem; and reinforces the importance of providing wide-ranging personal development opportunities.Each class has a teacher, a speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist who work together to plan programmes and agree targets. Additionally, occupational therapy assistants and learning support assistants work with students both within the classroom and on a one-to-one basis.HistorySt Catherine's Home was opened in November 1879, on the festival of All Saints and, until 1984, was known as St Catherine's Home although it was locally known as St Catherine's School. It has been a School since 1915 when the cases of advanced tuberculosis decreased and the arrival of Sister Kathleen saw the transformation of the Home into a school for delicate and Asthmatic children.