Head vows to improve pupils’ life chances

The Lighthouse School, which opens in Leeds in September with around 10 pupils in its first cohort, has appointed Tim Gleave to lead the school.

The free school has been created by a group of five sets of parents whose children have the condition.

Statistics show that more than half-a-million people in the country have an autism spectrum condition and more than half of these have spent time without a job or access to benefits.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people and the world around them.

The Lighthouse School aims to teach pupils social communication and life skills alongside academic subjects to ensure they are able to learn and equipped to play their part in society once they leave.

One of the parents behind the free school, Katie Parlett, told the Yorkshire Post they wanted to provide secondary age students with a school which could provide specialist teaching to help to ensure they reach their potential.

“For some it will be going on to do a degree at university or going into a job,” she said. “Really what we want is for them to have something better than they would otherwise have had. For some of our students that might mean moving out of their parents’ home and be able to live independently.”

Mr Gleave said: “We will focus on the strengths of the student but they will learn at their own speed. In a mainstream setting the speed and complexity of lessons can simply be overwhelming.

“We need to teach pupils with autism spectrum condition social interaction skills so that they are comfortable in a group situation.

“The school will use a small step learning approach but we will be outcome based. It will concentrate on subjects such as maths, ICT, literacy and science.”

It also plans to offer pupils “a vocational carousel” of subjects with taster sessions in a variety of areas to allow pupils to discover if there are skills or jobs which appeal to them.

Mr Gleave has years of teaching and leadership experience within special needs schools in South Yorkshire, most recently as deputy head of Abbey School, a special school in Rotherham.

He worked for 17 years as a teacher at the former Whiston Grange School, a special school for primary and secondary aged pupils with behavioural, emotional and social disorders; and eight years as head of an enhanced autism resource linked to Kilnhurst Primary School, in Rotherham.

“I was working in a school for pupils with social emotional and behavioural difficulties and was interested in why some pupils were not really responding to our interventions,” he said.

“I had never had any training in autism but we developed strategies which had quite far reaching effects and it was something I became interested in.

“I am delighted to be the first head of Lighthouse School.

“These are exciting times and I am looking forward to working with the team as we prepare to welcome our first pupils in September.”