Autism Outreach Service
From January 2025, The St Christopher School offers support to educational settings in the local area, across Southend and Essex. Our support is aimed at professionals working with children and young people who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, are on the diagnostic pathway, or display traits associated with autism. Our outreach support is for EYFS, KS1, KS2, KS3 and KS4, and individual learners do not need an EHCP in order to be referred.
We strongly believe that autistic learners deserve fair access to learning in all settings and are passionate about empowering all school staff to deliver innovative and personalised support. We use our training and expertise from specialist settings to give advice and recommendations individual to the child within the current placement.
Individual learner referrals usually come to us from SENCos. Please use your school SENCo as your first point of contact before making a referral.
The outreach service can also provide staff training. We deliver an Autism for Professionals course, based at The St Christopher School. We can also discuss individual training needs and deliver sessions on a range of topics, including: Introduction to Autism; Creating an Autism-Friendly Classroom; Sensory Strategies in the Classroom; Autism & Girls; and Autism & Anxiety.
We are able to offer a limited number of visits for mainstream colleagues to observe specialist teaching strategies. Please get in touch to discuss individual training needs, and we will be happy to work with you to create bespoke sessions.
Our service is no longer funded by Southend local authority. Please get in touch to discuss referral and training costs.
Please complete the attached referral form if appropriate.
For enquiries and booking the Autism for Professionals course, contact the school office.
Please bear in mind that there is a high level of demand and sometimes a wait of 6-8 weeks for individual referrals to be seen. The outreach team have their own teaching commitments and need to balance the needs of the children currently attending the school alongside outreach work. We do not work directly with parents or attend EHCP reviews, although our reports can be shared and used as evidence as part of this process.