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To identify if the school could meet a young person's needs, the Admissions
Panel first looks at papers (Education Health and Care Plan, Annual Review
documents, reports from specialists). Following this an assessment of the young
person is arranged with parents/carers and the local authority. The assessment
usually takes place at Prior's Court School and is undertaken by lead
practitioners from education and residential teams as well as the multidisciplinary
team to understand if the young person would be suitably placed at
the school.
2. Supporting young people
How will the school staff support my child/young person?
As an autism-specific special school, Prior's Court focuses on providing the most
appropriate training to ensure that staff are specialists in autism best practice,
uniting this knowledge with the needs of the individual child to enable them to
make sense of the world around them and make significant progress.
The team is led by a Director of Education and Lifelong Learning and a Director
of Care Services who are not only responsible for the operational management
of the school but are committed to developing and delivering the autism training
for staff which is provided from induction onwards. They have many years'
experience of autism best practice and, among other qualifications, are proud to
be Advanced Level Consultant Trainers in the TEACCH methodology, which is at
the heart of the school's autism approach and best practice.
Because Prior's Court uses a Waking Day curriculum, learning taking place
in the education day as well as during the evenings and weekends. There is a
strong commitment to ensuring that all teams work closely together with shared
goals and careful planning to make learning consistent for the young people.
The Education and Residential Care departments are supported throughout 52
weeks of the year by an experienced operational leadership team and on-site
multi-disciplinary and therapeutic professionals including Speech & Language
Therapists, Occupational Therapists, a Positive Behaviour Support team, Nurses,
specialist teachers focussing on IT, outdoor learning and physical exercise as
well as specialist teachers to develop vocationally-relevant skills in areas such
as; Horticulture; Animal Husbandry; Catering & Hospitality; Trade Skills;
Administration & Finance; and Retail & Business Enterprise. A Music Therapist,
and Dance and Movement Therapists are also contracted in to provide regular
sessions.
There is a strong focus on training to ensure that all staff are trained to create a
consistent team to support the young people.
As structured teaching is a core element of our approach, a strong emphasis is
placed on training staff in this area, to ensure consistency and best practice.
Staff also attend regular TEACCH training sessions run by the University of North
Carolina at Prior's Court School. See section 7 for further details.