Footsteps is our specialist provision, catering for primary aged children who have a diagnosis of communication and interaction difficulties and are not accessing mainstream education.

The children in Footsteps all have an Educational Health Care Plan for their specific needs and all are referred to us via the local authority.

The ethos of Footsteps is to provide a caring and supportive learning environment that encourages positive behaviour and where everyone in the school community feels valued, safe and respected. We consider promoting and teaching positive behaviour as central to ensuring academic achievement, independence and community participation.

Our Journey (so far):

Footsteps opened in September 2018, with just 4 children and 3 staff. Since then, it has grown in numbers as children from the local area and wider county attend the provision. 

The school were granted the opportunity to build a brand new ASC unit in 2017 and began to formulate ideas as to how they would redevelop part of the school so that it could cater to the needs of up to 10 children with an ASC diagnosis.

After many consultations with architects, designers and the local authority, they were finally given the go ahead in early 2018. The unit was built during the summer of 2018 and our first children arrived at the beginning of the academic year.

Once the unit was formally opened by the Mayor of Leicestershire, the children and staff were able to set about creating a learning and working environment that could best help some of the most vulnerable children in the county. 

In 2021 we expanded our offer to accommodate 20 children, however, to reflect the changing needs of the children we were being consulted about, and we are proud to have diversified our offer to ensure that we are able to support the widest range of children and share the wonderful expertise we have built. With this in mind we have officially moved from being an ASC only Designated Specialist Provision to become a ‘Communication and Interaction’ (C&I) Designated Specialist Provision, which still encompasses supporting children with ASC but broadens our reach to those who are on the pathway too, and widens our skill set as professionals.

If you have any enquiries regarding the unit, please feel free to contact the school and ask to speak to either our SENCo and DSP lead Mrs Vickerman or SENCo Assistant Mrs Roberts, Head of School Mrs Boulger, or the class teachers. Alternatively, you can speak to SENA regarding the provision.

The Staff: