Together achieving better decisions and brighter futures for Manchester families of children and young people aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

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The Autism in Schools (AiS) project is a government-funded initiative that aims to improve support for autistic children and young people in mainstream secondary schools.

Following the “Accelerator Projects” run in North Cumbria and the North East that started in 2018, the programme has now been rolled out to the rest of the country, with Greater Manchester (GM) being one of the localities involved in this phase.

The eight GM areas currently participating are Manchester, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Trafford, and Wigan, covering over 30 schools across Greater Manchester.

There are six participating schools in Manchester: Didsbury High School, Levenshulme High School, Manchester Communication Academy, Southern Cross School, St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic High School, and Trinity Church of England High School

Being closely aligned with the Transforming Care programme, we have an overarching aim to improve services so that more people can live in the community, with the right support, and close to home. We seek to ensure that children and young people are supported better in the school environment; foster good relationships between and among staff, parents and students; signpost families to sources of information and support; and promote neurodiversity awareness and acceptance among young people.

Visit the following links to learn more about the Autism in Schools project:
Overview from the National Network of Parent Carer Forums
Phase 1 Evaluation from Contact
Phase 2 Evaluation from Contact
Overview of the Autism in Schools project in Greater Manchester

Below are some blog posts and events associated with the AiS project:

Autism in Schools and Co-production

It's been a month since this year's National Co-production Week so we thought we'd take this opportunity to finally publish the well-articulated blog that Julie Hicklin, Manchester's SEND Lead, wrote about the Autism in Schools project. (Apologies for the delay!) Here it goes: Autism

Autism in Schools ‘Marketplace’ and Workshops

This event is now open to all parents and carers of neurodivergent children or young who live in the city of Manchester or go to a Manchester-based school. :) This event is for parents/carers of autistic children and young people - and the

“Understanding Autism” Workshop for Parents/Carers

"Understanding Autism" is the introductory module for the series of training sessions that are being developed as part of the Autism in Schools (AiS) project in Greater Manchester. This workshop aims to help parents/carers of autistic children and young people to learn more about

Supporting Siblings: Workshop for Parents

This workshop is for parents of disabled children who want to know more about supporting siblings. It will be delivered by Sibs, the UK charity that exists to support people who grow up with or have grown up with a disabled brother or sister.

HAVEN Parent Workshop

HAVEN stands for "Hearing Accepting Valuing Every Neurotype" and is the result of a collaboration between various teams in the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), One Education, and the University of Manchester. It is first going to be delivered via the Autism in