River Valley - AP - Bike Circuit

Who We Are

ADO River Valley is a Specialist, Outdoor Independent School, who recevied their Registraton in the Autumn of 2022.. Prior to registration we were an unregistered Alternative Provision which ADO setup in January 2018.

Our aim is to bring the great outdoors into our everyday curriculum, which promotes engagement and purpose for our students. An example of this is where we teach fractions through making up animal feeds and medications, or measurements by utilising natural resources like the dimensions of trees on site.

Since starting, we have provided placements for Children and Young People (CYP) from Key Stage 4 (Year 10), to Post-16 (aged 19). We operate a specialist model that brings together our expertise in both Education and Therapeutic services. We are ideally placed to offer alternative approach to education, utilising the skillsets we have within our staffing team, and combining them to produce a flexible ‘learner centered programme’ for students.

At ADO River Valley, we focus on supporting students who have Social, Emotional, Mental Health issues and associated needs such as Learning Difficulties, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. We aim to work specifically with students who have a career aim or interest in one of our bespoke career pathways.

 

 

Our Story


The ADO story started in very humble beginnings in 2009 and over the years since, our services and company have organically grown and matured, gaining invaluable experience that has now allowed us to focus on the education and therapeutic sectors, combining them to produce a unique holistic service that can deliver and help the needs of children and young people for the future.             Find Out More



ADO River Valley - Countryside BTEC - Mending Gates

Specialist Education - Therapeutic Approach

Our provision is a specialist education setting that aims to create flexible, individual programmes of learning support for students who, for a variety of reasons, may be unable to access mainstream education or may have been NEET for an extended period.

From the point of referral, we focus on the SEND and SEMH needs of the student and on supporting their family, in order to provide the most effective and appropriate educational intervention.

Our provision specialises in students who have learning difficulties, emotional difficulties, trauma based needs and wider cognitive needs including mental health difficulties. Our team of trained therapists are multi-skilled and are used to delivering educational programmes as part of a curriculum.

Our team includes staff trained with a therapeutic approach to support students to learn coping skills enabling them to engage in education and provide skills for life. Our model is based upon CBT to upskill students to challenge their thoughts, to impact their emotions and subsequent behaviour. A high proportion of referrals have experienced trauma.

Make A Referral

ADO River Valley - BTEC - Equine

Experience Matters

Although our alternative provision only started in 2018, ADO and many of its staff have had many years of experience delivering educational and therapeutic programmes. Following on from the alternative provision, ADO River Valley offer an innovative and creative model for students, their families, schools and local authorities within a therapeutic environment and specialist trained therapy staff team on hand.

We work in small classes (1:3) and offer individual student centered programmes to meet their needs and interests, enabling individuals to learn whilst developing confidence and self-esteem.

Sustainable Service 

During the COVID-19 lockdown, ADO continued to provide support for students and their families by remaining open to those who were able to still come to the provision. It proved our model was sustainable under testing circumstances and only made us more determined to implement our School Improvement Plan (SIP). The ultimate aim of the SIP is to deliver an OFSTED Independent School registration by September 2022, which we of course did achieve.
After having achieved our ultimate aim to be granted as an OFSTED Independent School, not only have we have improved our already successful provision, but have exceeded the very highest levels to ensure we are best placed in the future to scale up to what will be an even more growing demand for students who will have inextricably suffered as a result of the pandemic”.

Make A Referral