Acacia Hall

Excellent post-16 education for children with autism

KISIMUL UPPER SCHOOL, at Acacia Hall, is set in 7 acres of grounds in a former rectory within the small Lincolnshire hamlet of Friesthorpe, close to the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen. Kisimul's Lower School pupils transfer to the upper school on reaching the age of 16. All our pupils have Statements of educational need which recommend programmes of education to address autism, learning disabilities, global developmental delay, and challenging behaviour.

The school building is equipped to the highest standard. It has recently been extended outwards and upwards to provide three additional classrooms on the ground floor and music, art and I.T. rooms on the first floor. At Acacia Hall the building, environment and grounds are adapted and utilised in ways which reflect the needs of the older age group. For instance, there is enough space for the school to keep its own small farm, with miniature animals. Pupils can help look after these, thus engendering a sense of responsibility towards other creatures as well as themselves. Also on our own land we grow some of our own food: this is planted, tended and gathered by our pupils for recreational as well as nutritional purposes.

The home and school have soft play areas and in the Hall there are several comfortable lounges, dining rooms and activity rooms. The old barn area is to be developed into a large play barn in 2009 to further enhance the site.

At all of our schools our mission is identical: to strive continuously for excellence in the care and education of our pupils. We provide a caring and homely environment at all times, where pupils live in family groups and can grow and develop their skills, individuality and independence. We constantly review our methods and their effectiveness, in order to achieve continuous improvement for each child and young adult.

At our last Ofsted inspection our inspector had this to say: