Silverwood School (formerly Rowdeford School and briefly North Wiltshire School) is a special needs community school, near

Rowde Rowde () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, on the A342 about northwest of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Tanis. History The village now mainly consists of modern brick-built houses, but a number of 1 ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, for young people with complex needs and

autistic spectrum disorder Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

s (ASD) aged between 5 and 16. The school caters for 130 pupils. In 2008 the school was awarded specialist status in communication and interaction. The school is run by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

with additional support from Silverwood School Charity Trust (formed in 2001 as Rowdeford Charity Trust), an independent charity that supports the advancement of education for young people with disabilities and special needs. The school is built around Rowdeford House, a two-storey country house built in 1812 for Wadham Locke, later MP for

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

. Weekday

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

places were provided for 23 children, reducing to 16 places in September 2016. Wiltshire Council withdrew funding for these in March 2018, causing boarding cease in July 2018. In 2020, Rowdeford School formally merged with Larkrise School in

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

and St Nicholas School in

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

to form North Wiltshire School. The school operates over the three former school sites with a unified management structure. The former Rowdeford site acts as the headquarters of the school. In 2021 the school was renamed Silverwood School. The former Rowdeford site is in the process of being completely rebuilt and will (when completed) be the only site for the whole school.

References

External links

*
Silverwood School Charity Trust
{{authority control Special schools in Wiltshire Community schools in Wiltshire Special secondary schools in England