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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Previously called Autism in Schools (AiS), the Neurodiversity in Education (NiE) project is a government-funded initiative that aims to improve support for neurodivergent 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. All the 10 GM areas have signed up for this initiative – Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan – covering over 30 schools across GM.

There are currently seven participating schools in Manchester: Co-op Academy 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.

In 2024, the Greater Manchester steering group for Autism in Schools decided to change the name of the project, as we felt that Neurodiversity in Education will be more representative of the aims of this programme.

Below are some blog posts and events associated with Neurodiversity in Education:

PINS Parent/Carer Coffee Morning – Rushbrook Primary Academy

Do you have a child who may have ADHD, autism, DCD, DLD, dyslexia, learning disability, or another neurodivergent* condition who goes to Rushbrook Primary Academy? If so, we can’t wait to meet you as we start our brand-new parent carer groups at school! The groups

Neurodiversity in Education Parent/Carer Group Session – Southern Cross

Please note that we have changed the timings for this meetup to 12:30-2:30pm. This is to allow those who need to leave early to be with us for a longer time. Do you have a neurodivergent* (ND) child or young person who goes

Neurodiversity in Education Parent/Carer Coffee Morning

Do you have a neurodivergent* young person at MCA? If so, you are invited to our coffee morning at the school on Thursday, 10th of October, 9 to 10:30am. We will be joined by the school SENCO for an informal chat about the support available at school

PINS Parent/Carer Coffee Morning – Christ the King RC Primary School

Do you have a child who may have autism, ADHD, dyslexia, DCD, DLD, learning disability or another neurodivergent* condition who goes to Christ the King RC Primary School? If so, we can’t wait to meet you as we start our brand-new parent carer groups at

Parent/Carer Coffee Morning – Trinity High Neurodiversity in Education

Do you have a neurodivergent* child or young person at Trinity High School? If so, you are invited to our coffee morning at the school on Thursday 3rd October 9:30-11:00am. We will be joined by the school SENCOs for an informal chat about the support available at school for

Neurodiversity in Education Parent/Carer Group Session – Levenshulme High School

Do you have a neurodivergent (ND) child or young person who goes to Levenshulme High School? If you do, we'd love for you to join us on at this parent group session - a great chance to meet other parents/carers of ND children, share your

Autism in Schools and Co-production

We are pleased to share this short article from fellow parent-carer Carla Scaife, who is also the Programme Delivery Lead for Autism in Schools and the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) in Greater Manchester. Here, she talks about the role that