01582 866972
Welcome to The Chiltern School!
We are proud to be different; we celebrate our diverse community and ensure everyone is valued. We treat everyone with dignity and respect.
Dare to be Different!
Our vision is to develop children who are happy , confident , inquisitive and independent.
Our School
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News & Events
Welcome to The Chiltern School, where we dare to be different!
Thank you for visiting our website, where we hope you will find information that will give you a greater insight into our inclusive, nurturing and inspiring school.
We are a maintained school in the heart of Houghton Regis, Central Bedfordshire. The Chiltern School is an inclusive all through special school where we educate pupils aged 3 to 19 years with a range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. As an inclusive community, celebrating diversity, we place great emphasis on the value of each individual. We recognise that we are all different and unique. Children and young people are at the centre of everything we do. We want our pupils to thrive in a happy, stimulating environment based on mutual respect. We pride ourselves on celebrating the steps children and young people make towards being independent and fulfilled individuals.
We have a fantastic team of staff who are highly skilled, developed specialist knowledge, caring and dedicated to promoting high aspirations for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Our school is full of energy, laughter and most importantly, learning.
We put children at the heart of every decision we make, driven by our core values and promoting high expectations; we encourage everyone to be the best they can be. We believe that by working together with all stakeholders, especially our families, we ensure our pupils thrive, developing the skills they need to lead independent, safe and happy lives.
Lisa Leonard
Head Teacher
School Vision
The Chiltern School is a forward thinking ‘Centre of Excellence’, where we put the pupils at the heart of all decision making. We endeavour to take a holistic approach, valuing the whole child.
We have created a culture of learning and discovery that is stimulating and enjoyable, learning is fun and exciting. Our learning starts with the child and our aim is for all pupils to achieve their academic potential and be able to lead independent and fulfilling lives.
Underpinning our work is an ethos of distributed leadership, empowering the school community and promoting independence. We will encourage each other to take risks, have a go and try new things, with a fearless pursuit of inspirational and high quality teaching.
We strive to promote in our children the ability to be happy, confident, inquisitive and independent. Confident to move on, they will have the ability and desire to build on the skills they have developed and they will have a strong set of practical, social and emotional life skills to enable them to get things done and get along with people.
We provide a relevant and rich curriculum that is enjoyable, interactive and creative. It is designed to take account of pupils’ abilities, interests and experiences; at the heart of the curriculum is the development of functional independence, communication and emotional wellbeing. The curriculum is highly personalised; pupils follow relevant learning pathways to meet their changing needs, with a strong emphasis on celebrating the small steps.
We have created a caring yet purposeful environment where high expectations, good manners and positive relationships are nurtured. We foster mutually respectful relationships with warmth, humour and pleasant firmness that allow pupils to take responsibility for themselves.
Staff work together, expertly and enthusiastically – we are experts in our field. We provide high quality opportunities for continuous professional development, promote action research and use evidence based practice to enrich our own learning. We aspire to be national leaders for school to school support and outreach so that other children with SEND benefit too.
We work closely and collaboratively with families and other professionals to ensure every child has a happy, purposeful experience and one that allows them to thrive. They will take with them a sense of personal achievement and pride in their talents.
We are delighted to share that The Chiltern School has been recognised with a national employee engagement badge award in the Summer 2026 census by The Engagement Platform (TEP). Wellbeing, Workload and Employee Agency. This recognition places us among the top-scoring schools in England across TEP's dataset of over 500 schools, 300,000 pupils and 30,000 school employees. This reflects the hard work and commitment of our entire team, and we are proud to share this news.
#EngagementMatters #SchoolEngagement #EmployeeEngagement #TEP ... See MoreSee Less
In Maths, Thompson Class are exploring and identifying coins by their shape, size and value. We incorporated our maths using our different pedagogies.
During Shared Attention stage 3, pupils explored sand to find buried coins and matched them with the corresponding picture and some pupils could say which coin it was! We sustained our attention by splatting the picture which matched with the coin. Stage 4, we sorted coins to the corresponding value.
When delivering sensory circuits, using the fidelity of all stages the pupils were able to move their bodies during the organisational stage to start and stop in accordance with corresponding numbers. Thompson class is transferring and generalising number skills by providing many opportunities to support secure knowledge. ... See MoreSee Less
During our shared attention session, Keller class explored the exciting theme Life at Sea whilst developing their anticipation, turn-taking and independence. During stage 2, pupils eagerly watched the fish rescue culminating in an explosive fizz and mentos reaction! In stage 3, pupils patiently waited for their turn to explore a sensory rock pool, with their hands or feet. Finally, during stage 4, pupils demonstrated increased independence by collecting their own tray, completing their ‘under the sea’ maze, supporting the development of fine motor skills and following this, they returned to the circle to proudly show off their finished work. As always, it was wonderful for the adults in Keller class to see our pupils so engaged, curious and proud of their achievements! #sharedattention ... See MoreSee Less
The current D of E group have recently completed their expedition section of the award. The expedition group consisted of 6 Phase 3 pupils. The expedition involved the group walking over two days with a minimum of 4 hours traveling each day and one night camping for those that were able to do so. The pupils that camped also had to cook their evening meal. The group have developed a range of skills including social, communication, teamwork and resilience.
The group have worked very well together to plan their routes while developing their map reading skills. They have also practised hiking, camp craft and outdoor cooking during their D of E lessons. The aim of their expedition was to photograph the wildlife that they spotted along the routes. This was an amazing achievement to complete the expedition with the group walking over 8 miles each day! With the expedition complete, two pupils have now completed the Bronze Award, having worked on the other sections of volunteering, physical activity and learning a new skill, since last year. #dukeofedinburgh ... See MoreSee Less