Ambitious about Autism and Finished at School programme overview
Ambitious about Autism is the national charity for children and young people with autism. We
provide services, raise awareness and understanding, and campaign for change. Through TreeHouse
School and Ambitious Support we offer specialist education and support. Our vision is to make the
ordinary possible for children and young people with autism and our mission is to help them to
learn, thrive and achieve.
The Finished at School programme is being led by Ambitious about Autism, in partnership with the
Association of Colleges and nasen. Four general further education colleges have been appointed to
develop new and innovative models of support to enable young people with autism, including those
with complex autism, to access education beyond school.
This is a two year programme sponsored by the Department for Education and will include a series
of dissemination events, a good practice guide and a national conference. It aims to prepare the
general further education sector for the new responsibilities emerging from the Children and
Families Bill. The aim of the Bill is to create a clearer, more joined-up approach on education, health
and social care from 0 – 25 years of age.
This programme will build on Ambitious about Autism’s flagship campaign – Finished at School – to
secure more and better educational options for all young people with autism aged 16 – 25 to
support their transition to adulthood.
Each college will act as a Hub working in partnership with three local secondary schools (mainstream
and special) to develop staff skills, improve transition planning, strengthen assessment processes,
design curriculum pathways and ensure learners are able to access all aspects of college life. More
than 30 colleges applied to be part of the programme and the four that were appointed are:
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Askham Bryan College
Bromley College
Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College
Gloucestershire College
The college and schools in each hub, together with families and young people will have identified, by
December 2013, the young people with autism they are going to be working with to support their
transition to college post school. Over the period of the programme the Hubs will each be expected
to work with 28 young people with autism, including those with complex needs.
Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism, said:
“The fact that less than 1 in 4 young people with autism access education beyond school is
unacceptable and must change. Our Finished at School programme will work closely with schools
and colleges to support learners with autism, including those with complex needs, to access all
aspects of college life.
Like all of us, young people with autism have a right to expect to go to college, and this groundbreaking programme will help create the blueprint for what schools and colleges can do to make this
happen. We will develop and share the good practice about this work with all colleges and feedback
any recommendations for reforms to the Minister.”
Edward Timpson, Parliamentary under-Secretary of State for Children and Families said:
“I’m pleased that we’ll be continuing to support Ambitious about Autism over the next two years
through our grants programme. I welcome your plans to work with the Association of Colleges and
some mainstream colleges on innovative ways of helping young people with autism make the
transition from school to college. I’ll be very interested to hear about the progress you make. I’m
optimistic that, by working together in this way, we can build a better system that’s truly on the side
of those depend on it.”