The Undateables’ Daniel Wakeford joins West Sussex schools for autistic awareness awards

Thirteen West Sussex schools have been recognised for the work they do to support their autistic students.
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The schools have all been given an Autism Aware Award from West Sussex County Council’s autism and social communication team.

Helen Cottell, specialist support teams manager, said: “It has been an honour for our team to work with each of the schools, who have inspired us with new ways to support children with autism.

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“Every single one of them has made adoptions or come up with new and exciting ideas alongside their busy workloads.”

The award-winning schools with their certificatesThe award-winning schools with their certificates
The award-winning schools with their certificates

The winning schools were joined by The Undateables’ Daniel Wakeford, who has autism.

He was interviewed by his dad to provide an understanding of his life, including his UK-wide tour and previous experiences before singing a song from his new album.

Schools can achieve bronze, silver or gold standard for demonstrating an effective whole-school approach to supporting their students with autism and social communication disorders.

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Another special guest in attendance was, photographer Joe James, who spoke about overcoming the difficulties he faced growing up with undiagnosed autism and showed how he is raising awareness of the condition through his nature photography.

Each school took part in a two-day training course over 12 months and the aim was to meet the Autism Education Trust standards of good practice.

Gold winners: Oak Grove College, Worthing

Silver winners: Downlands Community College, Durrington Infant and Junior schools, Holbrook Primary School, Northlands Wood Primary Academy, Oaks Primary Academy, Upper Beeding Primary School.

Bronze winners: Alternative Provision College, Arunside Primary School,

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Maidenbower Junior School, North Lancing Primary School, Shipley CE Primary School and Worthing High School.

If you would like to find out how your school can achieve the award, email: [email protected]