Welcome to

The Courtyard

A specialist ASC provision for students aged
13-19, where students grow in confidence, develop
to become independent adults and become happy
and vibrant individuals.

The school is described as an oasis of calm, situated in St Mary Magdalene Church gardens, close to the hustle and bustle of Highbury and Islington. By maintaining an atmosphere of calmness and positivity, my staff can support, guide and advise our students to make progress towards achieving their potential, academically, socially and emotionally.

A specialist ASC provision for students aged
13-19, where students grow in confidence, develop
to become independent adults and become happy
and vibrant individuals.

The school is described as an oasis of calm, situated in St Mary Magdalene Church gardens, close to the hustle and bustle of Highbury and Islington. By maintaining an atmosphere of calmness and positivity, my staff can support, guide and advise our students to make progress towards achieving their potential, academically, socially and emotionally.

A specialist ASC provision for students aged
13-19, where students grow in confidence, develop
to become independent adults and become happy
and vibrant individuals.

The school is described as an oasis of calm, situated in St Mary Magdalene Church gardens, close to the hustle and bustle of Highbury and Islington. By maintaining an atmosphere of calmness and positivity, my staff can support, guide and advise our students to make progress towards achieving their potential, academically, socially and emotionally.

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Term Dates

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Term Dates

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Term Dates

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Admissions

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Admissions

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Admissions

Head’s Welcome

The school is described as an oasis of calm, situated in beautiful gardens, close to the hustle and bustle of Highbury and Islington. By maintaining an atmosphere of positivity, my staff and support and guide our students to make progress towards achieving their potential, academically, socially and emotionally. 

We work closely with all stakeholders to provide the best possible provision and enable of students to learn, thrive and achieve. 

We provide a personalised ambitious curriculum up to 72 students, aged 13-19.

Built into our curriculum is a series of interventions supported by the local authority CAMHS, Educational Psychology and Speech and Language teams, as well as our onsite Art Therapist. I am incredibly proud of our wonderful school and all of those who contribute to our supportive and understanding community. 

Please take a look through our website to understand further the experiences of our students and their incredible achievements.

Deborah Shepherd

Head Teacher

Head’s Welcome

The school is described as an oasis of calm, situated in beautiful gardens, close to the hustle and bustle of Highbury and Islington. By maintaining an atmosphere of positivity, my staff and support and guide our students to make progress towards achieving their potential, academically, socially and emotionally. 

We work closely with all stakeholders to provide the best possible provision and enable of students to learn, thrive and achieve. 

We provide a personalised ambitious curriculum up to 72 students, aged 13-19.

Built into our curriculum is a series of interventions supported by the local authority CAMHS, Educational Psychology and Speech and Language teams, as well as our onsite Art Therapist. I am incredibly proud of our wonderful school and all of those who contribute to our supportive and understanding community. Please take a look through our website to understand further the experiences of our students and their incredible achievements. Also, we are incredibly proud of our Outreach programme, www.LNN.org.uk which delivers Neurodiverse Awareness training to Employers, increasing job opportunities and equality in our community.

Deborah Shepherd

Head Teacher

Parent Testimonials

  • Parent of Y12 pupil

    Henry loves his school and cannot wait to get out of the front door every morning. He feels safe and secure and, above all, I know that he his happy.The school has been incredibly flexible about extra-curricular activities that Henry enjoys and excels at - its priority is always the child's best interests and that is fantastic. The staff cannot be praised highly enough - the students have no idea how fortunate they are!

  • Parent of Y11 pupil

    The Courtyard is an amazing school with caring and nurturing staff that truly believe in the children and strive to make them achieve their full potential .we as a family feel very fortunate to be a part of the school community and believe being at this school my child will inspire him to be positive about his future.

  • Parent of Y12 pupil

    The Courtyard is a wonderful, welcoming community that provides both an excellent education and a real understanding of the challenges its students face at school and in the wider world. Its support has made all the difference in our son achieving GCSEs and going on to A levels, and making friends along the way.

  • Parent of Y10 pupil

    My daughter's anxiety has remarkably decreased since starting at The Courtyard and she is now confident enough to approach her teachers if she has any worries at all. This has made an enormous impact on myself and family as we do not have constantly to worry about her well-being when she is in school.

  • Parent of Y10 pupil

    My daughter's anxiety has remarkably decreased since starting at The Courtyard and she is now confident enough to approach her teachers if she has any worries at all. This has made an enormous impact on myself and family as we do not have constantly to worry about her well-being when she is in school.

  • Parent of Y12 pupil

    Henry loves his school and cannot wait to get out of the front door every morning. He feels safe and secure and, above all, I know that he his happy.The school has been incredibly flexible about extra-curricular activities that Henry enjoys and excels at - its priority is always the child's best interests and that is fantastic. The staff cannot be praised highly enough - the students have no idea how fortunate they are!

  • Parent of Y11 pupil

    The Courtyard is an amazing school with caring and nurturing staff that truly believe in the children and strive to make them achieve their full potential .we as a family feel very fortunate to be a part of the school community and believe being at this school my child will inspire him to be positive about his future.

  • Parent of Y12 pupil

    The Courtyard is a wonderful, welcoming community that provides both an excellent education and a real understanding of the challenges its students face at school and in the wider world. Its support has made all the difference in our son achieving GCSEs and going on to A levels, and making friends along the way.

Our Approach to Education

Our Approach to Education

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

PBS is a widely used and person-centred approach to identifying and meeting a person’s support needs, guiding them to implement strategies in order to adjust their reaction to anxiety or dysregulation.

It is based on working with the individual and their support network to understand why someone is distressed, the impact their environment has on them and the best ways to keep them safe and happy.

The Courtyard Islington works with experienced practitioners from across London and Europe to ensure that our PBS strategies are relevant and meaningful for our young people, supporting them to independently manage stressful situations.

Mastery

At the Courtyard we believe that teaching mastery is the key to supporting our students in be independent, successful individuals in the future. Mastery is an approach to teaching that give students a deep, long-term, secure and adaptable understanding of subject-specific skills which can then be transferred to other contexts.

Mastery is particularly important when considering life skills: self-care, independent travel, organisation. These skills are practiced at the Courtyard and we work with families to support learning at home and in the wider community.

Aspiration

It is important for everyone to have dreams and aspirations. For many young people who attend the Courtyard, they have not even considered what their future may look like due to the challenging experiences they may have incurred in education prior to attending our school. At the Courtyard we support our young people to feel empowered and confident and to achieve success.

Part of this process is to ‘really’ experience the work place in order to remove the abstract and inform our students of the World of Work. Our excellent Careers programme, including a minimum of 80 hours of work experience, ensures that our students are motivated by their future aspirations and are committed to their learning – academic, social and emotional, in order to achieve their potential.

Partners

The Courtyard Islington is delighted to work with a fantastic range of organisations to enhance the learning experience of our students.

We are also incredibly pleased that all featured partner organisations have engaged positively with our Neurodiversity Friendly Employer training.