About The Vanguard School
Vanguard is a non-profit, state-licensed, academic day school that is one of 30 Pennsylvania Approved Private Schools (APS) for Special Education, selected by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)
Students are admitted to Vanguard through an admissions process that starts with a referral by a child's home school district, once it has been determined that a student's educational and/or emotional needs cannot be met in a traditional public school classroom setting.
Unless a parent chooses to make a private placement at Vanguard, families pay no tuition to cover the $36,000 per-child annual cost of education. Instead, revenue comes from reimbursement by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and fundraising efforts.
Student Profile: The Vanguard school serves students from over 70 school districts in nine counties. Vanguard’s student population consists of children whose exceptionalities include serious emotional disturbance (SED), neurological impairment (NI), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which include pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and Asperger’s Syndrome. Students range from ages 4-21 years.
Number of Students: 230
Student/Teacher Ratio: 1:3
Average Class Size: Primary/Lower School- 6-8, Middle School- 8-10, High School- 10-12
Services and Programs Provided On Site: Full academic program driven by individual student IEPs, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Guidance Counseling, Adaptive Physical Education, School Psychology, Nursing Services, Reading Specialists, Computer Instruction, Art, Music, Career Development and Transition Program, Program of Adventure-Based Counseling Experiences (PACE)
Every Vanguard student has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) created by Vanguard's clinical and educational staff to provide each student with the perfect balance of services and therapies to supplement classroom curriculum.
Education programs at The Vanguard School are organized into four segments, placing students on both age and ability level:
- Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten (for children up to 5 years of age)
- Lower School (for children between 5 and 11 years of age)
- Middle School (for children between 12 and 15 years of age)
- High School (for children between 15 and 21 years of age
Middle and High School students can participate in the Career Development and Transition Program, which provides Vanguard students with a comprehensive career program, helping them prepare for a smooth, successful transition to adult life. Instructors help students develop interpersonal skills and transferable work skills for adult living and employment. The program also provides support for students in self-advocacy classes and college preparatory classes.
The Vanguard School and its neighbor, The Crossroads School, are the two operational divisions of the legal parent corporation, Valley Forge Specialized Educational Services Corporation (VFSESC). VFSESC has a corporate oversight board, and each of the schools has its own Board of Directors. Proximity enables the two schools to take advantage of certain operational economies, including shared campus grounds and specific buildings, as well as overlapping financial, human resources and maintenance staffs. However, Vanguard and Crossroads are distinct institutions with distinct student populations.
Vanguard programs strive to serve the whole child, providing the individualized and specialized services our students need to succeed in an educational environment and ultimately in the world of work.
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