Prior's Court School

Prospective parents or carers, Local Authorities and professionals are welcome to visit Prior's Court, see our provision and meet staff. If you would like to discuss whether Prior’s Court School may be suitable for a prospective young person, please get in touch with our Admissions Manager who can advise according to the young person's specific needs. You can also arrange a visit on one of our open mornings.

Our Admissions procedure begins with a pre-placement assessment undertaken the support of the placement authority, following which our admission panel will make a decision about the suitability of the placement. If successful a carefully planned transition is undertaken with parents/carers fully involved. This is a simplified version of the process - see our website for full details.

Our vision for all of our young people is for them to be healthy, happy, more independent and have the opportunity to work. The Prior’s Court Learning Framework helps us to work towards that.

There are seven Areas of Learning we focus on, each made up of learning programmes that identify the skills a young person will gain, and the support they will need to gain them. Young people's progress across these areas is measured throughout to show their personal journey of learning. 

We have developed a specialist approach for supporting young people with complex autism, which enables them to reach their full potential. We call this the Prior Approach. The Prior Approach is based on autism best practice and methodologies and is carefully adapted to suit the specialist needs of our young people and support their physical, intellectual and emotional wellbeing. Applied across all settings with consistency, our approach provides a toolkit of skills which enable young people with complex autism to make sense of the world around them and support them throughout their life.

Prior’s Court has a range of residential accommodation within our School and Young Adult Provision. We have both purpose-built homes and carefully converted houses, designed to provide an adapted environment that is autistic-specific, homely, realistic, and suited to the age and needs of the young person.

All 16 homes are carefully organised with clearly defined areas (i.e. for play, snack, relaxing, group and activities). Visual and physical structure is used to support and encourage learning and independence throughout the waking day. Young people are grouped within houses according to their age, ability and compatibility, with accommodation varied to reflect a range of needs.

Please note accommodation at Prior’s Court is not a standalone service – it is available only for young people who attend our School or Young Adult Provision.