About the school

Aims of the Sybil Elgar School

1. To provide education for students with autism and associated disorders in a safe, positive, caring and cared for environment in partnership with its Service Support Committee, parents, carers and outside agencies.
2. For the practice to be informed by an understanding of autism which may be interpreted through the Triad of Impairment, i.e:
3. Impairment of Social Communication
4. Impairment of social relationships
5. Impairment of imagination

• To respect students’ dignity and rights as individuals, as students in the School and as members of the wider community, with reference to issues of culture, gender and religion in line with promoting the NAS Equal Opportunities Policy.
• To acknowledge the students’ entitlement to access a broad, balanced, appropriate and relevant twenty-four hour curriculum including access to the National Curriculum, which emphasises the particular needs of students with autism. The Sybil Elgar School curriculum is presented in a relevant and differentiated manner in which progression; continuity and achievement can be experienced.
• To “promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils”.
• To prepare students with appropriate opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.
• To recognise and plan as appropriate an integration programme into the wider community recognising the specific needs of individuals with autism (e.g. mainstream school, work experience, FE link, community youth resources).
• To provide an appropriate staff to pupils/student ration to meet the specific needs of students with autism. To ensure staff are well qualified/trained and that there are opportunities for ongoing staff development, training, support and appraisal.
• To set obtainable and realistic goals for personal achievement with the students in order to maximise their full potential and to empower them to use positive and appropriate coping strategies.
• To raise awareness of autism and the work of both the school and the National Autistic Society in the wider community and to promote the National Autistic Society Mission Statement.
• To keep abreast of relevant research and methods in the field of education and care of people with autism, implementing agreed polices and fulfilling all relevant legal requirements.

School Day

9.00am	Registration
9.10am	Lessons
10.40am – 11.00am	Break
11.00am – 12.10pm	Lessons
12.10pm – 12.40pm	Lunch Years 7 to 9
12.45pm – 1.15pm	Lunch Years 10 & 11
12.30pm – 1.30pm	Further Education Unit
3.40pm	School Ends

Curriculum

The Sybil Elgar School recognises that the TEACCH approach to teaching and learning provides the structure to ensure appropriate access to the curriculum. A TEACCH programme may be designed to help the pupil/student with autism to be as independent as possible, providing students with strategies for coping and understanding their environment thus making their world a less confusing and more predictable place.

All the pupils/students follow a broad and balanced curriculum, which incorporates the National Curriculum. The School has identified two essential areas of curriculum, which are seen as priority areas for development in students with autism – that is Personal and Social Education and Communication and these are embraced within all teaching.

Personal Social & Health Citizenship Education
Communication
English
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Humanities
Modern Foreign Language
Religious Education
Physical Education
Creative and Expressive Arts
Music Therapy
Art & Craft
Speech & Language Therapy
Occupational Therapy

To view an inspection report please click here

To view a prospectus please click here