We offer open afternoons twice a month for parents/carers to come and visit the school, one for primary enquiries and one for secondary enquiries. At the initial enquiry stage we do request no children accompany their parents on these open afternoons as we try to keep disruption to our current learners to an absolute minimum. Your child would get the opportunity to visit the school for an assessment day, if appropriate. A parent / carer must book on to an open day and due to high demand for these days we recommend booking as soon as you can.
For further information on dates, times and how to book please visit the open afternoons section of our website.
That Gretton School has space in an appropriate class/peer group.
The learner must have a diagnosis of autism; due to the variation in diagnostic terminology, learners may be diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition (ASC), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or Asperger Syndrome.
The learner must have a proposed or final statement of special educational needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
The learner being of average or above cognitive ability (and in addition, academically no more than 2 years below their chronological age expected levels);
That all those with parental responsibility are in support of the placement and in agreement with the strategies and ethos of the school. Continued support of those with parental responsibility and partnership with the school is essential for the success and viability of any placement;
In the case of a boarding referral, that the learner's needs can be met by the boarding provision;
That the learner may be private (including international) fee paying or local authority funded. Referral circumstances of private fee paying learners will be at the Headteacher’s discretion.
Currently, all our learners are funded through the individuals’ Local Authority, please contact your Local Authority if you are considering a placement at Gretton School. If you would like to be considered for a private fee paying placement, please contact the admissions team in the first instance to discuss further. All private fee paying learners will be at the Headteacher's discretion. Private fee paying learners will also need to be considered through our assessment process.
Our boy to girl ratio is approximately 80/20% which is the figure we have to report to the DfE; however, there is a cohort of learners at Gretton with trans or non-binary identity.
We offer our female learners a weekly girls’ group where they can get together and all female students have access to female teaching assistants and teachers on a daily basis. Our female learners feel fully supported and, where appropriate, we will keep female learners in the same classes. The number of female learners being placed is quickly increasing, including a continued high increase in enquiries for female learners.
We have a boarding provision at Gretton which provides our learners with a 24 hour curriculum from Monday – Friday, 38 weeks per year.
Our boarding provision offers warm and homely houses during the week in term time, and our experienced and well-qualified team care for boarders and make sure that they feel secure and settled. A maximum of two or three young people live together in a house or bungalow within the school grounds. Every young person has their own bedroom, which we encourage and help them to personalise, and shares a bathroom that has a bath and shower. Each home has spacious communal living areas, a dining room and great kitchen facilities. The gardens and grounds are safe and enclosed, and the young people enjoy using the large fields around the school, the trampoline, football field and playground equipment. The young people take part in the day-to-day running of their home to prepare them to live independently. The tasks they might typically be introduced to include: preparing meals, washing up, doing their laundry, shopping and learning how to budget for food.
The young people are learning throughout the waking day and we encourage them to organise and participate in a variety of educational and recreational activities that support their individual education plans and reflect their particular skills, talents and interests. These include, football, cultural evenings, visits to social clubs, computer games, swimming, and any other personal activity the student may wish to take part in. All boarding staff pride themselves on providing the pupils with real life experiences, helping them to build positive memories that they can take into their adulthood.
Our ethos is: ‘we are here to look after someone else’s loved one, and we will do our utmost to help these children to achieve in life, and support their family network.’
Applications can be made by contacting your Local Authority, and asking them to consult with Gretton School by sending the young person’s final or draft EHCP, in addition to the supporting documentation referred to in Section K of the EHCP. We cannot accept any parent led referrals at this time.
Following a letter of consultation and receipt of paperwork from the Local Authority, the Assessment Team will review the documentation and respond to both parties with whether or not we would offer an assessment day to further determine whether or not we can meet your child’s needs.
For more information on our admissions process please look at our Admissions Policy for further and more detailed guidance.
No, we work closely with several different Local Authorities. Most of our learners come to school by taxi, distance may be taken into consideration at point of application.
If the journey is too far, our boarding provision may be explored. Gretton School note government issued guidance that the travel distance from home to school as a general rule should not exceed 45 minutes for primary and 75 minutes for secondary learners.
We appreciate that due to the limited nature of SEN provision that longer journey times may be unavoidable. Also, journey times may be longer for boarding placements, as travel will only be at the start and end of each school week.
Yes, we have Occupational Therapists, Speech & Language Therapists, Art Therapy and an Educational Psychologist and a Clinical Psychologist on-site too. If your child has therapies listed in their EHCP’s and we have offered a placement, we will provide it all in house.
For further information on our Therapists and what we can offer please visit our Therapy page.
Learners can study towards attainment at GCSE and A-Level, as well as other accredited qualifications. They can also gain nationally recognised vocational qualifications.
We plan every learner's learning and development individually.
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum at every stage, and adapt this curriculum to reflect the changing needs of individual learners as they progress through the school, and according to their individual talents and interests.
We use a wide range of recognised autism spectrum condition approaches to support learning. There is a strong emphasis on a multi-professional approach.
To see what subjects we currently offer and what results our learners have recently achieved, please visit the Education & Learning page of our website.
Yes we do have a uniform at Gretton School. Learners are encouraged to wear our plain white polo shirts for primary, or grey polo for secondary (with the Gretton logo on) however the school can be flexible around an individual learner's sensory needs. Learners can therefore wear what they feel comfortable in, as long as it is appropriate for the school setting. We encourage learners to wear appropriate footwear that is comfortable for them.
PE
Learners are not required to change uniform for PE, and can take part in the clothes that they are wearing. However, we do encourage them to change, as they will be doing physical activity and get sweaty!
Forest School
Learners go to Forest School in any weather (unless unsafe to do so) so waterproof clothing is advised appropriate for the season (e.g. hats and gloves). Footwear for muddy conditions is advised! Learners can keep their forest school clothes at school if they wish.