SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES: Official opening for fabulous new autism base at Preston School

A NEW specialist unit at Preston School in Yeovil will be of huge benefit to students with autism and help them to thrive and shine as young people.

A lot of improvements have been made over the past few years into autism in raising awareness and providing crucial support for those children with the disorder.

But the introduction of specialist Autistic Spectrum Disorder bases across the county are making huge strides in providing children with autism a real opportunity to excel.

Now Preston School has its own ASD base and staff have said that they are already seeing improvement among the students who use it.

Although the base has been opened for several months, it was last night (Wednesday, May 20, 2015) when it was officially opened by Preston’s former principal Tony Bloxham.

The new principal, Gregg Morrison, said it was a fabulous facility to have and would make an already great school even greater.

“A huge thank you to everyone who has played their part in this building,” he told staff, special guests, parents and students at last night’s reception.

PHOTO - TOP: Pictured (from left) are former Preston principal Tony Bloxham, Somerset County Council's Peter Harnett, National Autistic Society chief executive Mark Lever and Preston principal Gregg Morrison.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Former Preston principal Tony Bloxham cuts the ribbon to officially declare the ASD base at the school open.

Peter Harnett, Somerset County Council’s lead officer on autism, said: “I would like to thank Preston School for agreeing us to use the site here and for having the inspiration to have this base here.

“The ethos of a school is critical in addressing children’s needs and Preston has values and ethics which are ideal for children who have particular needs which require developing.”

He thanked the county council for providing the capital funds to go-ahead with the project.

“We hope the council will continue to build these bases in the county,” he added.

“When I first came to Somerset nine years ago we had one base near Bridgwater with six children and I was tasked to develop bases in every part of Somerset.”

It was quickly realised that to get the most out of the specialist autism bases was to have them connected with mainstream schools – to allow students the best of both worlds.

“It allows students to develop social skills at their own pace – emotionally, socially and educationally,” said Mr Harnett.

There are now bases at four secondary schools and two primary schools within Somerset.

He said that the comments he had received from parents were “humbling and gobsmacking” with regards how their children have flourished.

Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society, said: “Children with autism are no different to any other children – they deserve the support to achieve their full potential.

“Children with autism can really thrive with support from the education system although there is not ‘one size which fits all’ with autism which presents the challenge.

“But these bases are clearly the way ahead. It provides students with the space where they can feel comfortable, but they can also enjoy the challenges of having a mainstream school and integrating the two. Preston is embracing the integration.

“The success of this unit will be when it is empty and all the children want to be out in the mainstream school.”

Former Preston principal Tony Bloxham, who was at the school when the autism unit project was first started, said that the school’s aim was to provide excellence for all students regardless of their abilities.

He paid tribute to Preston vice principal Helen Cullen for the huge amount of work she put into the project.

PHOTOS - ABOVE: All taken during last night's official opening of the new ASD base at Preston School in Yeovil.

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