I visited Oak Tree School in Winnersh to meet the staff and thank them for the work they are doing with pupils with an Autism Spectrum Condition diagnosis and associated complex needs. It was interesting to learn about the curriculum, and the specialist personal development education and therapeutic programmes delivered by the school. Parents can also access support from a dedicated family support member of staff.
The school opened in September 2023 and it is already heavily subscribed so I was pleased to see that the buildings provide some growing room to accommodate extra pupils. At capacity, the school will provide places for 150 students from Year 1 to Year 13.
May 13, 2024
Glad to hear of a successful school dealing with autistic pupils. I have a friend who is autistic but a brilliant pianist and composer. I have recently been helping a young dyslexic girl with her piano exams at the same time as she was taking Common Entance. She is very intelligent, passed her ouano exams and gained a place at one of her preferred grammar schools. But I was surprised to find that no allowance us made fr such children. By that I do not mean making the exams easier but structuring the test so as to assess better their intelligence, grasp of a subject and potential to develop. The problem with the piano exam was sight reading. The main reason to sight read is only to commit the piece to memory. Indeed it is accepted generally that to be performed well a piece cannot be sight read but must be played from memory. That is the desired end result so why mandate only one path to that result, thereby excluding many potentially brilliant musicians from gaining recognition and denying them a path to their own musical development?
It seems to me to be very short-sighted.
Hats off to Oak Tree School.