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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 Learning, a Director of Wellbeing and the School
Principal 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 of
experience of autism best practice and, among other qualifications, the Director
of Learning is proud to be an Advanced Level Consultant Trainer 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 first thing in the morning, evenings and
weekends. There is a strong commitment to ensuring the Wellbeing and
Learning teams work closely together with shared goals and careful planning to
make learning consistent for the young people.
The Learning and Wellbeing 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;
and specialist teachers focussing on Numeracy, Literacy, IT, outdoor learning and
physical exercise. There are vocational instructors to develop skills in areas such
as Horticulture; Animal Husbandry; Housekeeping; Catering & Hospitality
(including in an industry-standard commercial bakery on-site), and general work
readiness skills. A Music Therapist is employed, and additional therapists are
contracted in to provide sessions when identified as a need.
There is a strong focus on training to ensure that all staff are appropriately 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. See section 7 of this document for further details.
Governance:
Prior's Court School is managed by Prior's Court Foundation, a registered nonprofit
making charity dedicated to building a future for autistic people with
through its three services: the School, a Young Adult Provision and a Learning
and Development Centre (for spreading autism best practice). The charity is
governed by a Board of Trustees who meet quarterly as a full board with a series