Fosse Way School

Since November 2019, Fiona Skinner, whose career was surely written in the stars, what with her father being a teacher and her mother working in post-16 SEN provision. ‘I did try an office job first, but I hated sitting still and being told what to

A specialist school with three pathways. The Turing pathway is for students with severe and complex learning disabilities – most are autistic, and many are pre-verbal. The Hawking pathway is for students who may be able to access some of the national

Most year 11s stay on for sixth form. Those that leave have usually got a couple of GCSEs behind them and go on to Bath, Wiltshire or Bristol colleges. After sixth form, most continue on to further education, the rest go into employment or supported

‘Highly bespoke,’ say parents, who tell us it is the school’s ‘ability to individualise’ and ‘understand the whole child’ that they prize most. One parent told us how her daughter’s nervousness means she struggles to eat breakfast – ‘they worked so

While some students have one-to-ones (as part of their EHCP or, for example, for behaviour), most support is embedded in the small classes. ‘Every teacher is a SENCo here,’ insists the head, although the ‘official’ SENCo is the deputy head. Annual

‘Every creative subject is dealt with in a therapeutic and sensory way,’ lauded one parent. Art, for example, is used for learning skills, expressing yourself and as a calming strategy. The hope is that it will become a hobby – for example for

PE has come on leaps and bounds, thanks to a new PE lead. Canoeing, rock climbing and archery now on offer – and we saw students having great fun with foam javelins in the school hall. Everyone loved the recent axe throwing on the field – ‘exciting

Term-time boarding, from Monday to Friday, for up to 11 students aged 12-19 with a diagnosis of autism. Parents say they get ‘a 24-hour education’, including targets relating to their EHCP and further ones around independence and socialising. One mum

One full-time and two part-time SaLTs, plus a music therapist (in every week), in addition to OTs, physiotherapists and counsellors (called in as required). Therapists work either one-to-one (eg for specific needs such as anger management) or in the

Everywhere you look, there are emotional regulation boards, which students told us they use several times a day to help identify their feelings then following the guidance on how to move from, for example, feeling angry to more calm. One parent told

Most students we met were chirpy and chatty, while shier ones tried to say a few words – an achievement in itself. Primary and secondary pupils wear different colour jumpers (sixth formers wear their own clothes), and everybody is on first name

LA funded.

An innovative and nurturing school that caters for an impressively wide range of needs and that educates the whole child, getting them ready for every aspect of adult life. ‘I used to find life really tricky, but they knew exactly what I needed,’ one