Principal

About the Anderson School

The National Autistic Society (NAS) is building a new kind of school. A school which focuses on young people’s futures and puts skills for life and employment at the heart of the curriculum. The Anderson School will open in September 2017 and is located within the NAS Enterprise Campus at Luxborough Lane, Chigwell, Essex.

The NAS have run autism-specific schools for over 50 years and continue to innovate all the time; we now have a thriving employment offer too, helping 1,000 employers last year to understand autism better. This is why, together with long-term supporter, The Anderson Foundation, we’re excited to combine these two areas of expertise in a pioneering new school for autistic young people.

Only 16% of autistic adults are in full-time employment, though 77% of autistic adults want to work - many have skills and talents that are currently underused. That is why we decided to focus on vital skills for employment in our new school. We’re working with local partners to develop social enterprises on the campus, which will offer hands-on practical experience of work for young adults.

"My ultimate aim for this campus is that every child that leaves school will go into meaningful paid employment or other activity."

Mark Lever, Chief Executive, The National Autistic Society

The wellbeing of autistic children and young people is at the heart of every design decision we make. From small class sizes to purpose-built calm rooms, sensory and therapy rooms, we’ll make adjustments to each student’s environment to help them reach their full potential. This will be complemented by an individual, personalised curriculum tailored to their skills and ambitions for the future.

Building emotional resilience through our social understanding curriculum, completing A-levels or engaging in social enterprise projects or work placements are all examples of the kinds of achievements our students will be making.

Principal: Mr Gary Simm

Our vision

We want every student who leaves our school to have developed real life skills and emotional resilience, helping them step seamlessly into meaningful paid employment, further education or enterprising work.

Our mission

We know every young autistic person is different and we want them to live confidently and happily. We will work with children, families, employers, schools, universities and other organisations to create a bespoke curriculum and learning path just for our students with our MyProgress® system. 

Underpinning this will be a focus on student aspirations, interests and future employment and life skills.

We will encourage our students to achieve nationally recognised accreditations and qualifications using the very best teaching practice. So, students will get the ambitious and full education they deserve with a view to going into employment or further education.

The school will be at the heart of the community, working in partnership with other local schools, community groups, healthcare providers and employers working in construction, engineering, hospitality and IT among other areas.

We base our approach on our 50 years experience of running schools and education services.

Our values

Children and young people on the autism spectrum should be able to work towards and believe in the possibility of meaningful paid employment or other enterprising activity. To do this they need to be supported in their education to make relevant choices and have access to good careers advice, placements, and to develop skills that will help them in life and the workplace.

From making small environmental adjustments such as reducing class sizes to helping students recognise and deal with their emotions, our highly trained teachers will primarily focus on the child's wellbeing, while encouraging them to discover, and bring about, the best in themselves. We believe employers can make a difference by adopting autism-friendly practices. The Enterprise Campus will have the expertise, understanding and facilities to support them to do this.

MyProgress®

MyProgress® is The National Autistic Society’s overall system for working with your child. With MyProgress®, we know your child will have the best start in life because every aspect of their care and education is tailor made for them. MyProgress® ensures that your child will use tried and tested approaches that we have developed and used in our network of schools over many years, including TEACCH, SCERTS and PECS: we know they make a difference.

About our sponsor

The Anderson Foundation is the charitable foundation of the Anderson Group of Companies. The Anderson Foundation and its donors have been long-term supporters of our work at The National Autistic Society. Our new Anderson School at the Enterprise Campus represents the culmination of a shared vision to create a ground breaking, state-of-the-art education facility for young autistic people to prepare for the world of work and adulthood.

The Anderson Foundation’s support has gone beyond financial help – many of their supporters have committed to creating work placements in their own businesses to ensure that all students have the best possible start in life. This experience could be the difference between students feeling confident, able and experienced in the world of work and being unable to ever access good employment opportunities.

The Anderson team have also worked closely both with us at The National Autistic Society and other leading education providers to design and build a school environment that is autism-friendly and will help our students to thrive. We are immensely grateful to everyone associated with the Anderson Foundation and to its founder, Mark Anderson, in particular, for the support and commitment they have shown to this exciting and life-changing project.