Head Teacher

Job overview

We are excited to welcome you as a prospective candidate for the Headteacher position at Baskerville School. As a specialist school providing education for students with autism and learning difficulties, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for both staff and students. Your expertise will be vital in shaping our vision of fostering a caring, supportive environment that empowers our students to reach their full potential.

About Us

Baskerville School is a day school for 190 secondary-age students between 11 and 19 with autism and additional disability. We presently meet the challenge of working across 3 sites because of RAAC which was discovered in the main Baskerville Site in 2024.

We offer a specialist service for children on the autistic spectrum with additional learning and communication difficulties, who require an individualised, highly structured and integrated educational and therapeutic provision delivered within a Total Communication approach. Our pupils require a bespoke package, typically in a small class group with at least 1:3 support.

Teachers, therapists and support staff work fully integrated, ensuring that a child-centred holistic approach is core to practice. We recognise that pupils with autism have mixtures of need relating to, for example, communication and relationships, sensory sensitivity, and a need for regularity. Our curriculum, and our delivery of it, is designed with an understanding of these needs, and how each pupil individually presents. 

The Baskerville site currently houses our Key Stage 3 students and our complex cohort. The facilities include substantial outdoor spaces such as playing fields, dedicated playgrounds, a horticultural area and a forest school area, while indoor spaces include specialist and sensory rooms. Access to some of these areas is currently limited due to the new build programme. Our Key Stage 4 and 5 students will be based at Windsor Olympus Academy for the next two years. We have access to a dance studio and specialised labs, as well as a sports hall and outdoor all-weather pitch. We also have a resource base at South & City College Birmingham (Longbridge Campus), where students aged 16-19 are taught by Baskerville School staff.

When rebuilding is complete, Key Stages 3-5 will be housed on the Baskerville site, which will have expanded, secure play spaces. The school building will feature new sensory and therapy rooms, a library/ICT suite, spacious classrooms with breakout spaces, specialist rooms including Art/DT, Food tech, meeting rooms and other facilities in line with DfE new school build specifications. It is expected that the new building will be opened in 2026.

Our students follow the Equals curriculum. Key Stage 4 students study English, Maths and Science at GCSE and/or Entry Level, as well as BTEC vocational qualifications in Art and Design Technology (DT), and Humanities at Entry Level. Key Stage 5 students undertake employability (work skills) course alongside functional skills in English and maths. At South & City College, students typically follow Level 1 – 2 courses. All students take part in Independence lessons, which include food technology, travel training, SRE, PSHE, PE, sport and leisure activities.

In principle, our curriculum remains as broad as possible for as long as possible, enabling students to reach identified endpoints, such as the transition to supported college placements, and reaching the waypoints on the journey to these endpoints. Our aim is that our students are supported in living as independent, fulfilling and healthy a life as possible, and in contributing to the life of their community. ​​

Our aim is to ensure that each student has the entitlement to access a variety of opportunities to promote academic, social, emotional, and physical development. We use autistic-specific, empathetic approaches and an autistic-sympathetic learning environment to promote student learning and personal development. We provide choices and challenges to maximise potential and build upon strengths and interests. We work within a supportive school framework to promote and celebrate individual success, integrate students into the wider community, and prepare students for life after school.

We provide a low arousal, flexible teaching environment, with pupils following individual programmes, which are based on our detailed knowledge of each child and thoroughly embedded with the principles of Positive Behaviour Support. Pupils may also have access to social communication groups, rebound therapy, sensory circuits, yoga, outdoor and adventurous activities in the local community, work placements, theatre trips and many more activities tailored to support individual learning needs. An emphasis on functional and independence skills, communication and our integrated approach to planning, delivery and assessment is at the heart of our curriculum.