Ambitious College - Pears Campus at West Thames College

Ambitious College is a specialist day college for autistic young people aged 16 –25.

The college has two campuses co-located within mainstream colleges in north and west London. These are the Pears Campus at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) in Tottenham and the Pears Campus at West Thames College in Isleworth.

At each campus, there is a team of dedicated and passionate professionals including teachers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, employment specialists, behaviour specialists and specialist support staff. Using the Ambitious Approach to education, they work together to come up with learning and support approaches tailored to the individual.

Through a range of partnerships with local businesses, community groups and mainstream partners, the college also offer opportunities to learn in the community. This combined approach – personalised education, positive support and real work experience – delivers results. It allows young people to achieve their goals, fulfil their potential and go on to lead active lives in their community.

Head of College: Linda Looney

Values and vision

Ambitious about Autism is the national charity for autistic children and young people. We offer specialist education and support through Ambitious College, TreeHouse School, and The Rise School.

Ambitious College's values define how we work and ensure that children and young people with autism are at the heart of all that we do. We think everyone is entitled to lead a fulfilling, happy, and rewarding life; and this includes young people with autism.

Our learners are at the heart of everything we do, their curriculum is highly personalised to help them achieve their goals. We operate a person-centered approach. It is delivered by our highly skilled and friendly staff. We offer lots of opportunities to learn in the community through a range of partnerships with local employers, services, and our mainstream college partners.

As our name suggests, we are ambitious for our learners. We are a dedicated team of professionals who are passionate about our work in supporting young learners to live ordinary lives in their home community. We know that with the right opportunity and support they can achieve great things.

Ofsted

“Leaders, managers and governors have high ambitions and expectations for  learners. Leaders and managers have developed a good curriculum offer which  enables learners to study one of four pathways: engagement and interaction,  maximum independence, preparing for employment, and vocational learning. As a  result, most learners benefit from an individually tailored and well-taught  programme that is based on their needs, aspirations and ambitions. Learners make  good progress and are prepared well to move from college to the next stage of their  life.”

View Ambitious College’s latest Ofsted report