Silverwood School

Silverwood School
Silverwood School
Address
	Rowde; Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 2QQ; England
Coordinates	51°22′08″N 2°02′02″W / 51.369°N 2.034°W
Information
Type	Community special school
Local authority	Wiltshire Council
Department for Education URN	148145 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Sean McKeown
Gender	Coeducational
Age	5 to 16
Enrolment	404 (May 2023)
Website	www.silverwood.wilts.sch.uk

Silverwood School (formerly Rowdeford School and briefly North Wiltshire School) is a special needs community school, near Rowde, Wiltshire, England, for young people with complex needs and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) aged between 5 and 16.^[2] 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 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.^[3] The school is built around Rowdeford House, a two-storey country house built in 1812 for Wadham Locke,^[4] later MP for Devizes.

Weekday boarding 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.^[5]

In 2020, Rowdeford School formally merged with Larkrise School in Trowbridge and St Nicholas School in Chippenham 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.^[6] 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.^[1]