Head of School Introduction

Welcome to Little Bridge

Karen Wicks

Head of School/SENDCo/Designated Safeguarding Lead

My name is Karen Wicks and I am the Head of School for Little Bridge, our primary nurture provision in Rugeley. My role is Head of School, SENDCo and Designated Safeguarding Lead at the centre and I am passionate about working in a child centred and trauma informed way to understand what behaviour is communicating.  I am currently completing my Masters Degree in SEND looking specifically at trauma informed intervention.

I lead a team of specialist staff in working with small nurture groups of primary pupils and we deliver a curriculum based on explicit teaching of social skills combined with literacy and numeracy. We run interventions in Phonics and SEMH programs. My vision is to reduce stress for pupils using routine and structure and to establish positive relationships and a feeling of safety to enable the learning process to be accessible.

We provide a nurture-based small educational setting for primary pupils who are permanently excluded or at risk of exclusion and for those who may have unmet needs and would benefit from an EHC assessment. As the school SENDCo I am able to inform SEND assessments and I am trained to CCET level to administer psychometric testing where needed.  I enjoy working collaboratively with school SENDCo's to inform the graduated response.