Kisimul School

Co-educational Day & Residential Preparatory, Senior & Sixth Form

The Old Vicarage, 61 High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 9LU

01522 868279

enquiries@kisimul.co.uk

www.kisimul.co.uk

Founded

1977

Headteacher

Terry Lawson

Age Range

8 – 19 years

Special Needs

ASD, AUT, CLD, LD, SLD

Kisimul:

Delivering meaningful futures for young people and adults with autism, learning disabilities, and complex needs. Kisimul Group offers therapeutically informed care and support for people with autism, learning disabilities, and other complex needs, including behaviours of concern. Working with children from the age of eight, our multidisciplinary team sets out to understand what motivates and inspires them, providing a guiding hand on their journey into adulthood and beyond.

Exceptional Education at Kisimul's Independent Special Schools and College:

Kisimul offers specialist education for young people aged 8 to 25 across its Lower School, Upper School and College. Kisimul Lower School is situated in Swinderby, a small village between Lincoln and Newark, while Kisimul Upper School is located around 10 miles north of Lincoln in the village of Friesthorpe, near Market Rasen. While most of our learners reside in one of our registered care homes, we are also able to offer day and weekly boarding placements for 38 weeks over a conventional three term school year.

At both schools we take a personal approach to delivering the curriculum, which focuses on five key learning areas:

  • Communication, language, and literacy

  • Creative learning

  • Life skills

  • Physical and mental wellbeing

  • Cultural and community learning

The aim of this thematic curriculum is to enable all our young people to flourish, encouraging them to be the very best that they can be, and equipping them with the skills they need to facilitate lifelong learning. By adopting this approach, we can deliver a positive educational experience and meaningful long-term outcomes for the majority of our young people.

"Pupils develop their talents and interests through a range of activities. For example, they like gardening, horse riding, trampolining, shopping and cooking. Some pupils enjoy their time on the school farm. They love looking after the horses, goats, sheep and pigs. Clover, one of the pigs, is particularly popular" Kisimul School 2023 Ofsted Report

Kisimul Lower School:

Set on a rural four-acre site, Kisimul Lower School enjoys open surroundings with fabulous views over the Lincolnshire countryside. Inside, the school features bright, modern classrooms complete with the latest technology to aid learning. The library, soft play areas, and immersive Sensory Multi-Interactive Learning Environment (SMILE) rooms provide space for small groups to focus on interaction and exploration, developing communication and engagement skills. Elsewhere, the sports hall, heated swimming pool, and play facilities in the grounds allow us to deliver sensory regulation activities in conjunction with our therapeutic team.

Address: The Old Vicarage, 61 High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 9LU

Kisimul Upper School:

Set in a peaceful countryside location, Kisimul Upper School caters for young people aged 14 to 19 as they embark on the next phase in their learning journey. Modern, well-equipped classrooms host low numbers of learners at one time, with high staff ratios to allow the needs of each student to be met. Each classroom has access to extensive outside space, as well as an immersive sensory room, teaching kitchen, and group working spaces for therapeutic input. The on-site animal husbandry provision offers a chance to interact with horses, sheep, pigs, and goats while learning. Here, young people can reinforce their functional skills and vocational education by completing work-based tasks, contributing in a meaningful, valuable way under the watchful eye of specialist colleagues outside of the traditional school setting.

Address: Shortwood Lane, Friesthorpe, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN3 5AL

Further Education at Calman Colaiste Independent College:

Calman Colaiste is Kisimul's independent specialist college, providing further education for young adults from its base in Thorney, near Peterborough. Through its Learning for Life programme the College provides a broad and balanced programme of learning opportunities, helping students to develop core life skills, as well as pursuing vocational studies. Calman Colaiste operates from a central hub with four learning bases for IT, creative arts, functional skills, and vocational learning. It also benefits from its own animal husbandry provision and horticulture space, with extensive grounds to explore. The curriculum centres around enhancing literacy and numeracy capabilities, taught primarily via enterprise and work-related educational experiences, but also encompasses more generalised learning - promoting independence and developing a whole host of transferable skills to take into adulthood. Where appropriate, personalised therapeutic strategies can also be incorporated into a learners' individual programme of study, thanks to Calman Colaiste's access to the expertise of Kisimul's in-house therapy team.

Address:

Wisbech Road, Thorney, Peterborough, PE6 0TD

The Meaningful Life Model:

We want to empower every single person we support to lead a purposeful, fulfilling, and happy life. To achieve that, we created our meaningful life model. Kisimul colleagues work together with the person we support and those most important to them to understand what a meaningful and productive future might look like, before creating a personalised roadmap to get them there. Taking a holistic view, we identify bespoke goals which span every setting to ensure consistency, create stability, and ultimately deliver the best outcomes for that individual. Traditionally, support for those with complex needs has centred around trying to align behaviours with societal norms. At Kisimul, we focus instead on regulating emotion by recognising what truly motivates a person, implementing a therapeutic approach across the board. Here, collaboration is key, and all our Life and Learning Practitioners adhere to the same guidelines, seeking to engage in therapeutic interactions with the people they support wherever possible - fostering stronger emotional bonds and enhancing their physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

Therapeutic Services:

Kisimul is proud to have its own on-site psychology and therapist team which offers a range of invaluable support to the young people and adults who access our services. Working collaboratively with colleagues from all areas of the organisation, as well as with the families of the people we care for, our 20 strong team ensures that every aspect of a person's development and wellbeing is considered at every stage of their journey with us. In tandem with the education and care teams, Kisimul's therapeutic services unit will evaluate and make recommendations around how best to support an individual's progress in line with their own meaningful life plan. This involves assessing a person's day-to-day needs to ensure that they have everything they need to feel safe, connected, and emotionally regulated. They will also create secondary reactive strategies, like emotion coaching, and behaviour crisis plans to protect the individual's safety. These plans are regularly reviewed and adapted as those needs evolve, with the ultimate aims being to ensure the happiness and wellbeing of residents and learners. Kisimul offer a range of therapeutic services, including:

  • Occupational Therapy

  • Psychology

  • Music Therapy

  • Art Therapy

  • Speech & Language Therapy

For further information please contact us:

enquiries@kisimul.co.uk

01522 868279

Latest Articles