Through our Trust, we work with local authorities and community groups who share our commitment to developing high-quality, evidence-based schools for autistic children and young people.

We welcome opportunities and partnerships to achieve our aim of more autistic children and young people accessing high-quality education and making outstanding progress.

The Trust is led by an experienced team of people passionate about enabling education to transform the life chances of autistic children and young people. Quality is at the top of the agenda in everything we do, with a focus on meeting the individual needs of every autistic child or young person we support.

The Ambitious about Autism Schools Trust has a Board of Trustees and is an exempt charity and company limited by guarantee. 

Ambitious about Autism was founded by a group of parents determined to improve education opportunities for their children.

This pioneering spirit has remained at the heart of our organisation as we have evolved and progressed. We believe all autistic young people have a right to the best education that meets their needs and enables them to learn, thrive and achieve. We run two specialist schools and a specialist day college for autistic young people, ranging from the age of 3-25.

The Ambitious Approach

The Ambitious Approach is our model of education practice used across our education settings to support autistic children and young people.

We have a clear vision of what we want our education settings to achieve. We want to prepare children and young people for a happy and fulfilling life and, whilst doing so, afford them dignity, respect, and compassion. At its heart, the approach is centred around improving the quality of life of autistic young people while they are in education and ensuring this quality of life continues into adulthood. When pupils and learners leave our settings, we want them to find employment, go on to further education or training, and live fully as part of the communities of their choice.

Embedding quality of life across all aspects of an education setting’s functions is vital to the successful implementation of our Ambitious Approach. This ranges from reviewing the curriculum to ensure it prepares students for quality of life, to auditing policy and practice to ensure it affords dignity, respect and compassion. 

We are constantly developing, searching for and open to new approaches that are ethical and have a robust evidence base. We share our experience and evidence with others to enhance knowledge and expertise in the field of autism education.

Ambitious about Autism is the national charity standing with autistic children and young people. We believe every autistic child and young person has the right to be themselves and realise their ambitions. We started as one school and have become a movement for change. We champion rights, campaign for change and create opportunities. Join us in standing with autistic children and young people.