About Us

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Welcome to Calder Lodge School.

Calder Lodge School is an independent specialist primary day school focused on SEMH, ASD and other associated needs including GDD, MLD, SLD. We have experience in supporting children with serious visual impairment and hearing impairment where social, emotional and mental health needs have become the primary focus. The school is based in Oakenclough, a rural backdrop in the hills behind Garstang with the Forest of Bowland. By providing our own transport we can support local authorities across the North West.

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Experienced, caring, well trained staff

We believe Calder Lodge School enables its pupils to improve their academic performance, develop their social skills and raise their aspirations. Our pupils may have a history of negative attitudes towards school, as a result of previous experiences of failure and frustration. Through our positive structure of rewards and incentives, underpinned by a strong sense of boundaries, our pupils gain self-belief, display positive behaviours and have a strong sense of belonging to our school. By rebuilding their self-esteem and forging positive relationships, they replace failure with success.

At Calder Lodge School we provide a high quality learning environment and deliver an exciting and innovative curriculum which meets the needs of all pupils. The curriculum is underpinned by strong social and behavioural support, building self-esteem and giving pupils a platform to experience success. This, in turn, enables pupils to channel their energies into improving academically. The school has a strong ICT infrastructure, which aids learning and enriches curriculum delivery at all times.

What's new

Latest News

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13/01/26 – Blackpool Sea Life Centre

Bleasdale Class visited the Blackpool Sea Life Centre as part of their Abyss topic. The purpose of the visit was to inspire the children to write alliteration poems linked to sea life and underwater habitats. The children greatly enjoyed exploring the Sea Life Centre and observing the wide variety of animals. They used the information […]

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7.1.26 – Following Recipes

Today, Fairsnape took part in a practical cooking activity to support our English learning- instructional writing. To help the children understand the purpose and structure of instructional writing, we followed a recipe to make rocky road biscuits, working in two small groups. Before starting, we looked closely at the features of a recipe together. In […]

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Wyresdale Dexter’s Farm – 2/12/25

As part of our class topic ‘Paws, Claws and Whiskers’, we visited Wyresdale Dexter’s Farm, a working farm close to school. This visit gave the children the opportunity to learn about what happens on a farm each day and learn how to take care of farm animals. During our visit, the children met a variety […]

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26/11/25 – Ribby Hall Zoo

Nicky Nook visited Ribby Hall Zoo. This visit linked to our Paws, Claws and Whiskers topic, with a primary focus of our English text- which was writing a set of instructions for a Zookeeper.  Throughout the trip, the pupils visited different animal exhibitions; this included crocodiles, a bat cave, leaf cutter ants, reindeers, an otter […]

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Nicky Nook Hike

The children had an exciting adventure hiking up Nicky Nook, spotting trees, streams, mud, fences and amazing views along the way. As we walked, the class began making up their own alliteration phrases, inspired by everything they could see, hear and squelch through! The walk certainly wasn’t short of drama. Archie and Ranell managed to […]

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19.11.25 – Harris Museum (Wallace and Gromit)

The children visited the Harris Museum in Preston to explore the exciting Wallace and Gromit exhibition. Before the visit, they completed a worksheet to help them think about the significant people they have been learning about in class. This prepared them to make links with the creator of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park, who is […]

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18/11/25 – Greek Day

The children enjoyed an exciting and immersive Greek Day where they deepened their understanding of life in ancient Greece. They learned about the role of hoplites and explored the weaponry, armour, and battle formations used in Greek warfare, helping to bring their history topic to life. The children then designed unique shields, which they will […]

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13/11/2025 – Beacon Fell

We had a brilliant day out at Beacon Fell, even though the weather was definitely on the colder side! The children didn’t let that stop them—they wrapped up warm and enjoyed exploring the outdoors from the moment we arrived. We spent lots of time walking across different terrains, including muddy paths, rocky tracks, and soft […]

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11/11/2025 – Science and DT

Bleasdale has been busy exploring exciting activities in both Science and Design & Technology, all inspired by the topic “Invasion from the Vikings” and cultural-based designs. The pupils have been developing their creative skills whilst learning about Viking culture and science concepts related to the water cycle. In Design & Technology, students created a variety […]

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15/10/2025 – Greenlands Farm

On the 15th October Nicky Nook visited Greenlands Farm. This was an educational visit which linked to the class topic of Paws, Claws and Whiskers but it also linked to our Science topic (animals including humans).  During the visit the students looked at many different farmyard animals, including cows, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, chickens, […]

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Golden Time 14/10/25

Throughout this half term we have been looking out for both children and adults who are ‘caught being kind, helpful or doing something for someone else’. Across the whole school we have observed many actions. During our assemblies this week we have shared these acts and the children have received a gold sticker. Some children, […]

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Leyland Commercial Vehicle Museum – 8/10/2025

In previous learning our children have learned about events and people from the past, such as the Great Fire of London. They have explored how life was different in the past compared to today, looking at homes, schools and jobs. In our current learning we have been looking at significant people and technology (buses, boats, […]

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