Flexible Education at Peterhouse is a person-centred, bespoke provision for young people who are unable to access school. It encompasses the individualised approach and ethos of Peterhouse alongside our own action research and the learning we have taken from our work with each individual young person we have supported. Our approach incorporates aspects of research on trauma-informed practice and strategies for supporting people with a PDA profile. We recognise a range of contributory factors which for our learners, act as barriers to school attendance and engagement with education and the wider world. We understand that fundamentally, many of the traditional approaches to education have been unsuccessful or damaging to our young people and that many of the more widely accepted notions of what constitutes good ‘autism practice’ also need to be reframed and adapted. Young people we support share a number of common traits, require a unique approach and a shared acknowledgement that they may be on a different pathway as regards their education.
Our work is built on a connection between the young person and their individual staff team into which we are committed to investing the necessary time and patience for each learner. We establish expectation through consistency of approach and routine to build a positive working relationship with our learners. Once this is achieved, our young people are encouraged to develop their knowledge and understanding of themselves, their diagnosis, and how their previous experiences may influence their current perceptions of education. We aspire to provide a framework for our young people within which they are able to change their perception of education and to develop the requisite knowledge and skills to be able to re-engage with education and with the wider world, to ensure they can become successful adults with autism.
Comments from Current and Former Flex Ed Parents
I wanted to say thank you to your school but also wanted to say thank you to Owen Matthews and make sure he receives the recognition he solely deserves he has been instrumental in my son’s education from the young boy whom was out of education for 6 years had lost all faith in teachers and the whole system from several suicide attempts not leaving his bedroom or talking to his family he had completely shut down, to now a fantastic happy intelligent teenager whom we have a close relationship to now starting at Cardinal Newman college works part time he has high hopes and a bright future ahead to which he is extremely excited about. Owen spent so much time over the years building a relationship built on trust with him and never gave up on him, words just don’t seem enough Owen has a natural gift with children that need additional support or guidance and your school are extremely lucky to have him.
Kind regards,
A very grateful happy mum!
It is a beautiful thing you are doing, the difference in my child is amazing. I can’t thank you enough.
Thank you for giving me my son back.
Prior to Peterhouse my son didn’t want to leave the house, if he did it would be to trusted places like his grandmothers. He can now choose to attend family parties standing tall and proud. It’s fab what has been achieved, the staff really understand like no one else before the importance of going at his pace.
My daughter is able to be herself in school. Bubbly….chatty… She’s coming back…I’m getting her back.
I am beginning to feel positive about the future, something I have not been able to do for several years.
I am so thankful to the Peterhouse Flex Ed Team, it is such a unique provision that supports our ‘bedroom kids’ appreciating and adapting to our kids’ unique needs. From not being able to leave his bedroom he now dreams of a place of his own with a garden.
Coming out of her room being a step on the path which ended with her entering adulthood with savings, setting herself up as self employed – with a real chance at making more than enough for her to live on from her art – just a month after her 18th birthday! Nobody believes in or sees the potential of the Flex Ed kids like you guys do. Nobody is prepared to commit to them consistently like Flex Ed does… …What you do saves lives.
Thanks so much you’ve not just given me my son back but also a future too.
The starting point for all of the services we have received from Peterhouse is assessing what support we need and working with my family to meet our needs for support and finding ways to make this happen, which seems to be the opposite of many of our experiences of even specialist community services, which seem to try to make us fit into what they know and can provide already, which has very frequently made things significantly worse for all of us. I have noticed that where Peterhouse feels an adaptation to normal working practices is needed to best support our family, they will strive to make those adaptations to their services in a way that I have not experienced before.
