Aurora Woodlands - Darwen Specialist education and therapeutic provision in a calm, nurturing environment, for boys aged 10-19 with additional social, emotional and mental health needs.   Situated in a beautiful location in the small town of Darwen, Lancashire, Aurora Woodlands is a small, specialist school providing personalised, tailored academic and therapeutic support in a calm, nurturing environment. Our team of skilled and experienced practitioners support young people with a range of complex social, emotional and mental health needs throughout their transition into young adulthood, so that by the time they leave us, they can look forward to bright, exciting futures.  

Our School

Aurora Woodlands is a small specialist school providing personalised, tailored academic and therapeutic support in a calm, nurturing environment. 

Our team of skilled and experienced practitioners support young people with complex needs, helping them to reach their educational aspirations and prepare for a successful future.

Many of the students who arrive at Woodlands have had negative experiences of school in the past. We strive to offer them a different, more positive experience, working hard to ensure that their needs are identified and catered for; that they feel settled and quickly develop a sense of belonging within our school community.

We promote community and sharing throughout the school day. Staff and students share their meals together, and every morning we hold an assembly centered around a specific theme, which takes place in our large communal hall.

We take a proactive, evidence-based approach to changing behaviours of concern, completing functional behaviour assessments and creating appropriate behaviour support plans that employ Positive Behaviour Strategies (PBS), such as pre-correcting, prompting and nonverbal signals.

In addition to PBS, we are developing our trauma-informed practice by using the Thrive approach.

All staff receive regular Thrive training to promote positive mental health and to help them respond to behaviour in a way that helps all our students to flourish and learn.