Birch Wood Area Special School consists of two successful and vibrant special schools- Birch Wood Grange Drive (age 4-19 years) and Birch Wood Vale (age 11-19 years) which includes Ashton House a secondary specialist autism provision and our newly formed Birch Wood College Post 16.

We are an outward looking maintained school, committed to our community in Melton Mowbray and the surrounding areas in Leicestershire. Birch Wood provides a highly specialised and completely unique learning environment, which aims to meet our pupils at their point of need to enable their success. We share a culture which is ambitious without limits for our children and young people and aim to provide a high quality, relevant and balanced education that focuses on individual, personal and academic achievement.

Across all our sites our ENABLES ethos underpins our teaching and learning to help develop confident and happy young adults ready for their next steps in learning and life.

Our ENABLES ethos
Rosalind Hopkins – Executive Head Teacher


Our teaching and support staff community has an unwavering passion and determination to continuously improve our school to provide the best outcomes for every pupil. In essence we are a reflective learning community, with the highest standards for our pupils care and education. We take great pride in our school and our ability to work together with parents and professionals to provide students with opportunities to progress and achieve both academically and socially. We are passionate about inclusion and embrace our wider role to make education more inclusive for all in collaboration across all sectors and through our work leading The Leicestershire & Rutland SEND & Inclusion Hub in partnership with Leicestershire & Rutland Teaching School Hub.


At Birch Wood students are taught in smaller groups, with more than one member of staff in attendance so that we can nurture, challenge and inspire them through to success. We are a well-resourced school with many in house specialists including our own commissioned Speech and Language Therapist and Occupational Therapists. We also offer a range of other therapies and additional support services including Music Therapy, Rebound Therapy and School Councillor.


At Birch Wood Area Special school you should receive a warm welcome from students and staff, be inspired by their thirst for learning and positive attitudes, sense their enjoyment and respect for each other and be able to see the positive difference.

Our Ambassador

We are honoured to work with our school ambassador, Matt Hampson. Matt does amazing work and we’re proud to have his support.

Matt Hampson

Matt Hampson

Since his accident in 2005 during an England Under 21 rugby training session, Matt has battled hard to live as normal a life as possible. Paralysed from the neck down and breathing via the aid of a ventilator, it is testament to him that he decided to set up the Foundation so that others who have suffered similar catastrophic injuries through sport can receive support and assistance.

As well as his Foundation duties which include, visiting, mentoring, providing advice and fundraising, Matt delivers inspirational talks to young people and businesses around the country. He is also a forwards coach at Oakham School and Oakham Rugby Club, an ambassador for both the RFU’s injured Players Fund and Restart (The Professional Rugby Association’s charity). Patron of Special Effect a charity set up to help disabled children communicate through technology.

The Matt Hampson Foundation