A special school in Huddersfield has been re-branded as a specialist centre for children with autism from across the entire Kirklees district.
Longley School, in Lowerhouses, is now known as Woodley School & College. It will cater for 110 pupils aged from three to 19 years.
As many as one in 90 children is diagnosed with autism, with the diagnosis itself sometimes taking up to three years.
Whilst some can cope with being taught in mainstream schools or regular special schools others require the specialist environment provided by sites such as Woodley.
Until Woodley opened as the Kirklees hub some parents of autistic children faced a three-hour round trip to Rother Ogden School in South Yorkshire. They can now find support closer to home and stay within the Kirklees boundary.
Among the new elements provided at Woodley is one-to-one staffing, an early year unit and college provision for young adults aged 16-19. The latter, with its self-contained flat and internet cafe, forms part of a three-year programme designed to give students the wherewithal to cope in the wider world.
Maggie Milledge, the teacher running the post-16 college, said Woodley could be twice as big and still not meet the needs of Kirklees.
“Families can feel very isolated, but they can bring their children here and be sure that conditions are right. It’s a very lucky person that gets into Woodley. We are another stepping stone that they need to get through to adult life.”
Miss Milledge said the change of focus at Woodley signified that it had turned a corner. Last autumn it was rated as ‘requiring improvement’ for the second time running by Ofsted, having received the same grade in October 2013.
Two years before that it was rated as ‘satisfactory’ which has since been re-classified as ‘requires improvement.’
Teaching staff said they were disappointed that the considerable progress made at the school since 2013 – including an “enriched, motivating curriculum” – had not been reflected in the 2015 report.
Among those celebrating the change of focus at Woodley was Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Autism which was set up last year.
The commission is calling for better training and data collection, for inspections of services to consider the needs of autistic patients, for all autistic people to be offered an annual health check and for NHS England to appoint a National Clinical Director for Autism.
