January 2026 edition

Contents

Topic in focus - Careers Service

In each parent newsletter, we're now going to be focusing on a key term at Prior's Court and what it means. This edition it is the Careers Service being explored.

Our Careers Service approach is about ensuring all of learners can access quality careers education, tailored to their needs and the aspirations of learners and parents. We will support learners to develop the skills and experiences they need to best prepare them for adulthood and for the transition to their lifelong placement. 

Our careers offering utilises the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks (GB) which provides the recognised framework for careers guidance to ensure we can deliver an ambitious programme for all our learners in the way that is most appropriate for them. 

Our strategic plan for careers which can be viewed elsewhere on our website is intended to set out how our school will: 

  • Create work opportunities and experiences for our learners within the Prior’s Court community as well as within the local community. 
  • Build on our existing vocational programmes of learning. 
  • Enable learners to develop skills that will help ensure a successful transition into adulthood. 

Starters, transitions and leavers - young people

Our latest new starter is Seb, who joined Prior's Court as a Day Student just before Christmas.

Seb is nine, and is in Bonsai class. He is a young man who loves to engage with staff members, loves to play and has already made a big impression in his time at Prior's Court.

We're thrilled to have Seb with us and look forward to sharing his successes and achievements.

Elsewhere, Yusef has moved from the Children's Home (where he was living in Fleming House) to our Young Adult Provision, specifically Bradbury Cottages.

There have been no leavers since our last newsletter.

Starters, promotions and leavers - staff

Starters:

  • Natasha Rampton is our new Head of Safeguarding (see below for a more detailed introduction to Natasha)
  • Lorraine Green is our new school Deputy Head
  • Carol Crabtree is now on-board as our Senior Occupational Therapist, thus filling our OT department.
  • Gemma-Louise Waters is a new starter as an Assistant Care Manager, working with Care Manager Joel Joseph to oversee Dove and Charlotte Houses in the Young Adult Provision.

Promotions:

  • As sent out via ParentMail, Mark Mederson is our new Head of Care, working alongside Registered Manager Lisa Pothecary.
  • The role left vacant by Mark, Care Manager for Summer and Winter Houses, has been filled by Natasha Moore who was appointed just before Christmas. Natasha joined Prior's Court in the summer of 2019 at an Autism Practitioner level and this latest promotion is recognition of her skills. 

Leavers:

  • Our Senior Facilities Lead Hannah Livermore left Prior's Court at the end of December after a number of years with us serving in a number of roles in the Estates team.
  • This has created a more streamlined management structure in the Estates department with a view to improving service delivery across the whole site.

Upcoming Structured Teaching courses and staff training

As part of our commitment to training our staff members to the very highest level in the field of autism, we have a number of Structured Teaching courses coming up.

We offer these courses to our staff members to improve their autism knowledge and to support their career development, and to external delegates - the latter is part of our commitment to knowledge-sharing across the sector.

A reminder that parents of Prior's Court young people are entitled to a significantly reduced price on the 3-Day course - £295 compared to the standard price of £525.

If you are interested in attending at the parent rate, please get in touch to reserve your place – spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis:

May 2026 course booking

August 2026 course booking

October 2026 course booking has yet to open

A significant number of our senior staff members - including School Principal Helen Franks, Head of Lower School Nuno Guerreiro, Registered Manager Lisa Pothecary and the Care Managers and Teachers - have all recently completed a Structured Teaching refresher course on-site to ensure their practice remains in top condition.

New Head of Safeguarding

Our new Head of Safeguarding Natasha Rampton is now fully embedded into her work at Prior's Court, having been on the late November induction.

Natasha has worked in education for more than 10 years across both mainstream and SEND schools, from early years to post-16. Much of her previous work has focused on supporting children and young people with complex needs, including autism.

 And a little about Natasha in her own words: "I'm passionate about creating a safe, nurturing environment for the young people of Prior's Court, ensuring they feel safe, understood and supported here every day. 

"I enjoy cooking, hiking and exploring new places, and can often be found taking my two Miniature Dachshunds on adventures at the weekends! 

An in-depth intro to Lorraine Green, our new Deputy Head, will feature in the next parent newsletter.

Christmas events feedback

It seems like an age ago already, but our usual week of festive events was held at the end of last term including the Carol Concert, Santa's Grotto, reindeer visit, Christmas lunches, the Young Adult Provision Christmas Party and more.

We would love to hear your feedback about our Christmas events so we can start planning for 2026. All feedback helps us to adapt and improve events for all young people who attend them.

Fill out the form

Spirit of Prior's Court Awards 2026

The fourth annual Spirit of Prior’s Court Awards will be going ahead on Friday, 27 March 2026. This is an awards evening dedicated to celebrating the incredible achievements our staffing teams make happen every day at Prior’s Court.

As parents you can help play a part in two ways:

  • Would the company you work for be interested in becoming an award sponsor? Pass on the event listing on our website to the relevant person at your company and ask them to take a look. 
  • Consider, only if you truly, truly are able to, taking your child home for the night of Friday, 27th March to allow fewer staff needing to be on-site and so giving more staff the chance to attend the evening.

Please email Annette Robinson on [email protected] if you are able to take your child home for the evening.

If you have any questions about the event, please email the awards organising committee on [email protected].

Parent Survey 2025/26

Thank you to those parents who have completed the 2025/26 parent survey. The survey closed on Wednesday, 31 December.

However, we plan to reopen the survey again later in the academic year. The reasons for this are twofold:

  1. We haven’t received the number of responses we would like or, frankly, from which we can justifiably take action from (the fewer responses, the less representative they are of the whole parent community)
  2. The survey informs our continuous improvement plans for the forthcoming year. Therefore, having it closer to the end of the academic year makes sense.
    This is why we are reopening the 2025/26 survey again in April/ May, rather than waiting 18 months to conduct a 2026/27 in April/ May 2027 as this would be far too long of a gap.

We will then share the results of the 2025/26 survey with you, and our actions in response to the findings, in early summer 2026.

Latest Parent Forum recording

The recordings of Parent Forum meetings are now shared on the Prior Insight parent portal, via the Guidance Notes page.

The recording of the meeting held on 11 December 2025 is now available for you to access.

The next Parent Forum meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 27 January.

News on our website you may have missed

Building Society branch's long-term support for Prior's Court Young people's artwork sells to support fundraising appeal Vote for our The Long Road film

Events, term dates and more key information

Term dates Events this year Uniform information
Clothing labels Prior Insight Parent Portal Parent Handbook

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