Education in Wolverhampton

Early Years

For the children of Wolverhampton, the opportunity to benefit from the Education Service begins long before the age of 5.

Wolverhampton has been a national leader in pre-school education for many years

Pre-school education is available at

• 8 nursery schools
• 61 nursery classes attached to primary schools
• 2 community nurseries
• 29 operating as in partnership or as initiatives

This provision forms the basis for a successful Early Years Development and Childcare Plan.

Early Years provision is further enhanced through the use of the highly successful residential centre for Nursery and Infant pupils located at Kingswood in the nearby Staffordshire countryside.

88% of all nursery age children in Wolverhampton are receiving nursery education through the Authority’s Education Service.

With the majority of Primary Schools having direct links with Early Years provision, considerable opportunity exists for newly qualified teachers interested in this area of the service to gain valuable experience.

Primary Education

Wolverhampton admits pupils into primary schools at the beginning of the Autumn and Spring terms in the year of the child’s fifth birthday.

There are 82 schools delivering primary education, comprising of:

• 10 infant schools (5 to 7 year olds)
• 9 junior schools (7 to 11 year olds)
• 63 primary schools (5 to 11 year olds).

Within the 82 schools there are:

• 10 Catholic schools
• 14 Church of England aided or controlled schools.

The range of Primary schools available in the City offers a wide variety of sites, styles of accommodation and varying opportunities for working with different types of children.

Within the framework of Curriculum 2000, schools are flexible in their teaching approach and classroom practice. Emphasis is placed on attainment in the basic skills including the literacy and numeracy initiatives and development of the whole child through experience of a broad curriculum.

Schools are supported by the Authority in addressing the requirements of pupils who experience a wide range of special educational needs.

High levels are achieved in standard attainment targets at Key Stage 1 and 2. Pupils are helped to reach good standards in the creative arts and sport.

Secondary education

At the age of 11, pupils continue their education by transferring to one of Wolverhampton's 18 secondary schools of which 4 are voluntary aided church schools:

• 2 Roman Catholic
• 2 Church of England).

A number of these schools have gained specialist college status and one is a Beacon school.

A significant feature of post-16 provision is the continuing development of partnerships between groups of secondary schools. These offer enhanced curriculum opportunities across consortia.

The wider post-16 partnership includes the new City of Wolverhampton College which provides a wide range of further education courses including A Levels, GCSE's and GNVQ's.

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Wolverhampton is well known for its work with pupils with Special Educational Needs and has a high level of integrated provision.

The authority has:

• 7 special schools
• 4 pupil referral units.

In addition, children with:

• learning difficulties
• sensory impairment
• language and communication problems
• physical disabilities
• emotional and behavioural difficulties,

are integrated into primary and secondary schools that have special resource bases.

The four specialist teams include:

• Early years
• Hearing / visual impairment
• Learning support
• Outreach support services

The above are provided by special schools for early years, Autism and physical disabilities.