Type of service: Day schools, Schools

The name of the unit for children with Asperger syndrome is The Base (Asperger Resource Centre). Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School is a mixed comprehensive school catering for around nine hundred pupils. An autism spectrum disorder (ASD) resource was initially set up in the school in 1995 and today provides support for 18 ASD students from years seven to thirteen. The Berkshire Autistic Society raised the funding for a pleasant well resourced building for these students. All our students have an ASD diagnosis on their statements and are within the academic range of a mainstream comprehensive school; many of our students being recognised as gifted and talented. Some of our students may drop a GCSE option to free up their time table to include study periods to help with structuring the coursework and stress management. A well structured Social Skills scheme of work is taught in small groups once a week. For the rest of the time these students attend mainstream lessons, with on average forty per cent of these lessons being supported. This level of support reflects the needs of the students, some of whom may need full support in year seven but no in class support by year eleven. This is an ideal example as it is hoped that our students should have reached a high level of independence by year eleven to prepare them for life after school.

Aimed at: Adolescent , Child

Specialisms: Has autism-specific elements

Other specialisms: Challenging behaviour