The ASC provision at Arc School Ansley has been supporting Andrew for three years. This young man was struggling in his mainstream school which wasn’t able to meet the needs arising from his autism spectrum condition.

When Andrew came to the school he was very quiet and wouldn’t engage with anybody. He was walking along corridors with his eyes closed and wouldn’t take his hand off of the wall.

Working with the team at Arc School Ansley, and in particular his Key Worker and the School’s Behaviour Management Lead, Andrew has been able to successfully transition to Ansley and is now engaged in learning as well as successfully engaging with his peers and others. 

Staff across the school have worked closely with Andrew and persevered with him, working on social skills and making him feel like a valued member of the team. He is a very intelligent boy so academically he had few issues and therefore, after assessing the areas which required specific focus, the goal was set to work on social skills.

From a curricular point of view, the team knew Andrew had an interest in animals, particularly cats, so established learning opportunities specifically around animals and cats that they knew would interest him. The focus of this work was particularly focusing on the social side of his learning as being able to participate in social engagement is key in Andrew’s future as an adult.

The focus on gaining social skills and engaging with peers has been very successful. Andrew has given talks to the whole school and is now working with the team on his transition to college. 

There was academic success also which saw Andrew gain a number of GCSEs including A grades in Science, English Literature and English Language.

Andrew’s family have been thrilled with the progress he has made and his mother said we had “managed to bring back the boy she had missed”.