The Margaret Coates Centre opened in 1969 and caters for primary aged children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other associated disorders. It has been on the school's site for many years but was rebuilt as part of St Martin’s Garden Primary School in 1995 and has 15 children on roll.

 

Lisa Carey-Woolls, the Team Leader responsible for the Margaret Coates Centre, has worked in the centre for 14 years. She is highly qualified in Special Educational Needs and has a rich and wide experience of working within special needs settings. 

 

Within the Margaret Coates Centre, our children are taught the skills they need to ‘live in this world’. To enable our children to develop appropriate life skills, we establish a predictable daily routine and a consistent approach. This helps to minimise anxiety, creating an atmosphere in which the children can learn. "Change” is built into the routine and staff work with the children to help them accept change as part of life.

 

Individual needs

 

In planning for each child’s individual needs we aim to:

 

Provide a broad and balanced curriculum which targets the child’s specific needs;

 

Raise each child's self-esteem

 

Ensure that each child has access to the National Curriculum;

 

Encourage independent work skills;

 

Encourage tolerance and a sense of belonging.

 

 

Inclusion

 

 

Each child is encouraged to take part in inclusion activities within the mainstream school at his/her own

 

level. During the year children have the opportunity to take part in celebrations, concerts and play times.

 

Further individual inclusion programmes are set up when appropriate. Opportunities are also provided for

 

KS1 and KS2 children to join in with some  of the centre's activities.

 

National Autistic Society defines ASD as: “a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person 

 communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around

them.  It is a spectrum condition, which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties,

their condition will affect them in different ways. Some people with autism are able to live relatively

independent lives, but others may have accompanying learning disabilities and need a lifetime of specialist

support. People with autism may also experience over or under-sensitivity to sounds, touch, tastes, smells,

light or colours.”

 

For further details please contact Mrs Lisa Carey-Woolls, Team Leader, Margaret Coates Centre:

Telephone 01225 833714 or 832112 or email lisa_carey-woolls@bathnes.gov.uk

 

 

 

Admission to Margaret Coates Centre is dealt with solely through the Local Authority.

 

 

 

 

 

OfSTED November 2008

 

 

Provision for pupils in the Margaret Coates Centre is good. As a result of good teaching, these pupils

 

 

make good progress in their learning. There are strengths in pupils' personal, social and emotional

 

 

development.”