Schools in Portsmouth and Hampshire: Mayville High School in Southsea will be opening a new Specialist Learning Support and Wellbeing Centre this September

Mayville High School has announced that a new centre will be opening this September in a bid to offer specialised support to children with additional needs. Wyvern House will be open to pupils with a variety of additional needs, which would prevent them from accessing mainstream education. There will be a therapy dog on site which will help staff members create a welcoming and nurturing space where children can pupils will be able to regulate their emotions and receive a bespoke package of support delivered by specialist teachers.

Rebecca Parkyn, Mayville School’s headteacher, said: ‘I have worked on this project for the last two years and to see it finally coming to fruition is really heartening. Wyvern House is Mayville’s response to the astonishing demand for specialist educational and mental health support services we have experienced since the pandemic.

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‘In the past, we have had to decline admission to pupils who require an entirely bespoke curriculum as well as a separate house in which to work. This is now going to change with the recent acquisition of no 24 St Simon’s Road. It is in an ideal location, being adjacent to our Junior School and central to all our school buildings.’

The school has an expanding team of specialist teachers, speech and language therapists and will offer further services as we move forward. There will be a mental health counsellor, as part of the Wyvern team who will be able to cater for pupils who require social, emotional and specialist mental health support.

Plans for the house also includes opening Wyvern House at the weekends for the benefit of the local community, so that families can access timely mental health support for their children, as required. Mayville High School already has a dyslexia unit which has been open to children for almost 30 years and it has been a success in the local community during that time.

Rebecca added: ‘The purchase of Wyvern House was made possible thanks to a very generous donation by an anonymous benefactor, without which we could not have raised the funds needed for such an ambitious project.’