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• Autism Resources Base

  Fri 03 May 2024

  Official Announcement

  Prime7 MAT are proud to announce the plans to develop King’s Sutton Primary Academy. On the 24 April 2024 the DFE Headteacher Board approved the development of a 30 place Autism resource. As a Trust and school, we are delighted and honoured to continue our journey of development to support young people and families in our local area.

  We appreciate that children with autism can struggle to engage with learning and cope in a classroom without additional strategies and interventions. The Autism Resource Base will support the children to overcome their barriers to learning to be better able to cope.

  We are very keen to provide this support at King’s Sutton Primary Academy as we already support many children with autism across our mainstream environment. The Resource Base will be located within the current school site. We propose that a section of the school will have adaptions to create a specialised environment for autism learners in bespoke accommodation to meet their needs. The children will learn and play within specialist areas.

  Places at the Resource Base will initially support 15/20 children and over time and will potentially support up to 30 children. It is anticipated that we would not be full until 1 September 2025.  SEND nationally is increasing hugely and this is a great opportunity to build on the strengths of the school to support local families whose children may struggle in mainstream settings.

  What is a Resource Base?

  Autism Resource Base settings are classes within a mainstream school with a dedicated lead teacher with trained staff to support in specific autism practice to support children learn and develop according to their specific needs.

  What are the benefits of this proposal?

  The main driver for Prime7 MAT and the senior leaders of King’s Sutton Primary Academy is to meet the increased demand for specialist educational provision within our school, local area, and the needs of our most vulnerable learners. We feel our proposal would benefit children because it will:

  • Support more children with special education needs and disabilities to be educated and thrive in their local school and community.
  • Enhance children’s progress by effectively meeting their individual social communication and interaction needs.
  • Help facilitate better access to the curriculum for all children and support children to achieve their potential.
  • Ensure that needs can be met locally avoiding the need for children to spend unnecessary time travelling to an appropriate school further away. This is better for children and families and saves the taxpayer money in transport costs.
  • Increase the availability of places to meet the needs of children with SEND.
  • Increase specialist training for all staff that will enable all children to benefit to support high quality education in King’s Sutton Primary Academy.

  We firmly believe that this will be an asset to the school and the village as a whole. We are extremely keen to work with stakeholders and the community and will be reaching out to further integrate the school including the Resource Base into the heart of village life.

  Any questions please do not hesitate to contact myself at CEO@prime7.org.uk or via King’s Sutton Primary Academy.

  Ian Lowe - Prime7 MAT CEO