About Aurora Ryefields School
Aurora Ryefields is a specialised school for young people with Autism Spectrum Condition and associated Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. For many of its students, the online world serves as a vital social lifeline — reducing anxiety and helping them find communities that feel inaccessible in physical settings. PSHE and digital resilience are led by Fran (Senior Leader) and Caroline, who together have embedded Life Lessons across the school to turn abstract digital concepts into tangible, transferable social skills.
Focus: Digital resilience and online influence
The school’s most significant challenge is helping students navigate nuanced social rules online. Rather than treating digital incidents as behavioural problems, the team recognises that many students genuinely struggle to infer intent or generalise social boundaries from the classroom to a group chat — and responds educationally.
- Building a consistent framework
- Caroline noted that Life Lessons has allowed them to “adapt a range of resources we already had, as well as bring those skills all the way through.” This provides clear progression and coverage across year groups, ensuring students develop correct terminology and understanding at every stage.
- Empowering the pastoral team
- The pastoral lead uses their Life Lessons logins to access differentiated interventions including comic strip conversations and social stories. This enables the team to respond immediately when online issues spill into the school day, without waiting for a formal PSHE lesson.
- Evidencing impact
- From a leadership perspective, Fran emphasised that having differentiated, adapted interventions is invaluable. When she analyses behaviour data, she has robust evidence of the proactive, visual support used to de-escalate and educate students — making the school’s safeguarding approach both measurable and defensible.
