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News & Events Napier School
Napier School is a brand-new service located in Farnborough and is dedicated to educating children between the ages of 5 and 11 who have a primary diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Condition and may also have a range of Learning Difficulties.
The school officially opened its doors in September 2023 with Sara Evans appointed as Headteacher and Anthony Creaser as Deputy Headteacher.
This is where their journey begins…
“I was so excited about starting at Napier School. Having worked in various roles in education, I found myself further away from children than I wanted to be. As Head of Operations for a college group in London, I decided to go back to teaching and working with SEND pupils.
When I saw a role advertised with OFG at a different school, I met with Ciaran Walsh (Regional Director) and quickly discovered how much I liked the culture of the Group. He told me about Napier School and asked if I would be interested in a Head position. Of course, I was! After applying and being interviewed for the role, I was thrilled to be offered the position. It was everything I wanted.” – Sara Evans
Anthony had already been recruited, so when Sara joined in June, they started work to rewrite policies and procedures to make them primary school focused and make sure they were ready for a visit from Ofsted.
“When we first joined, we didn’t even have a building to look at. We had to wear hard hats and look around the building site.
During the summer, I reviewed all the healthcare plans of the pupils who were potentially joining us. I also carried out all the home visits and worked closely with Hannah Fellows and the Admissions team.
Sara and I created a parents/carers newsletter and invited parents to open days. Eventually, we organised play days for parents to meet other parents and pupils.” – Anthony Creaser
When the brand-new team opened its doors in September, they welcomed 18 pupils. They now have 25, are taking another 6 in January and a further 6 pupils after Easter and expect to be at full capacity by September 2024. The school is a calm place and already delivering promising outcomes for the children.
All the pupils are nonverbal, except for 2, and most wear pads because they have never used a toilet. For most parents and carers, when their child uses the toilet for the first time and eventually stops wearing nappies, these are significant milestones. One 5-year old pupil reached both of these milestones within 1 week of starting school and when mum was told, she started to cry with happiness. The young pupil now refuses to wear pads and wears normal underwear.
The team also focuses on food and uses something called ‘sniff, lick, taste’ as a technique to introduce new food to pupils. A 4 year old pupil would only eat certain food, so the team spent time encouraging him to simply sniff the food. Then after a few days, he’d try licking it and then a few days after that, he tasted it. After using this technique for several days, the young boy went out for lunch with mum and dad and asked if he could try to ‘sniff, lick, taste’ some of his mum’s sushi. He did and discovered he loved smoked salmon. His mum was so delighted that she immediately bought smoked salmon.
Parents have given feedback to say that their children are more regulated at home, they sleep through the night and are much calmer. They are also benefitting from the support and strategies the school is offering them to try at home.
“In just one term we have seen such wonderful outcomes for our pupils. We are a happy and thriving team and I know we will have continued success and many more positive outcomes to share with colleagues across the Group” – Sara Evans
Find out more about Napier School and their offer here.
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