TreeHouse School

TreeHouse School is registered with the Department for Education as a non-maintained special school. The school was founded in 1997 by parents of children with autism.

TreeHouse School provides children with the specialist, intensive and integrated support to enable them to learn, thrive and achieve.

Our approach is highly personalised to reflect the unique qualities of each individual. Our emphasis is on developing communication and interaction skills, increasing attention, promoting ‘learning to learn’, establishing life, leisure and vocational skills and fostering independence. We work closely with the child or young person and their families to identify the things that are important to them, and use these aspirations to plan an appropriate learning programme. It is this personalised and collaborative approach which enables us to provide the highest quality teaching, learning and support.

The contexts for teaching and learning are flexible; the use of a range of learning environments being carefully planned in order to give each pupil the best learning potential. Contexts may include school, a joint or additional educational placement, home, extra-curricular ‘clubs’ and the local community. Teaching and learning takes places within a school-wide ethos of nurturing relationships and celebrating progress, achievement and success. Where possible and appropriate, learning takes places in context, for example in our laundry rooms, our pupil garden and our teaching kitchens.

At TreeHouse School, we believe in forging strong links with local mainstream schools, to provide opportunities for our pupils to mix with their peers. Several of our pupils take part in a range of classes at local mainstream schools, and this enriches both their learning in particular subjects such as music or sports, as well as their social and communication skills. We also run a programme of ‘Reverse Inclusion’ where children from a local primary school visit TreeHouse once a week to act as ‘playmates’.

Getting transition right for each individual can be a challenging process, and TreeHouse aims to meet this challenge by a combination of person-centred transition reviews; high quality information on options and the participation of the young person and the families themselves.

We know with the right support and opportunities, children and young people with autism can learn, thrive and achieve.