Guests at The Cavendish School’s autism and education event heard that building confidence, promoting self-advocacy and decoding the world should be core to autism education. The annual event, held on 10 April, explored the future of educating autistic students amidst the ongoing SEND education reform in England.
In her presentation, Stephanie Smith, Head of School and Executive Director of SEND at Eastern Learning Alliance, outlined three core pillars for autism education rooted in the school’s experience over the past five years. Reflecting on the purpose of education, Stephanie argued that education should focus on supporting readiness for learning by making the hidden curriculum explicit instead of implicit, separating assessments from a fear of failure and building social knowledge of expectations in different settings.
Stephanie said: “Autistic people have historically been asked to adapt to environments that aren’t designed with them in mind. This is also true of the education system. As the government continues to consider the best approach to inclusive education, we want to share ways in which schools can help autistic children to become confident self-advocates.
“There are a number of approaches that work well in practice, and we were proud to share what has worked for our school and our speakers to help families and educators build environments where autistic students can access their learning, achieve their aspirations and feel a sense of pride and belonging.”
Guests also heard from a wide range of autistic speakers including comedy writer, Sara Gibbs, illustrator, Rebecca Burgess, and autism advocate, Dean Beadle. Dr Julie Bailey, a former governor of the school and researcher at the University of Cambridge and Louise Baldwin, Senior Consultant at Therapeutic Thinking, which offers an evidence-informed programme to support children’s emotional wellbeing, also spoke at the event.
Delegates also benefited from a practical sensory workshop focused on improving interoceptive awareness led by the school’s Occupational Therapist, Beth Macauley, and Assistant Headteacher, Jake Allock. To close the afternoon, Dean celebrated the progress in autism education and reminded parents to respond to the SEND reform consultation, which closes on 18 May.
Key learnings presented at the event have been captured in the school’s first white paper, Five years of learning through alignment: reflections on curriculum, environment and relationships in autism education, to help other schools enhance autism education within their own settings.
Download the whitepaper: https://thecavendishschool.org.uk/news/five-years-of-learning-through-alignment/
