About Churchward school

Churchward School is a unique special Free School for students aged 11-19 years with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and/or Social Communication Interaction Difficulties (SCID).

Churchward School opened in September 2018 in a temporary specialist centre and moved to a permanent school site, custom-built for Churchward School students, in September 2020.  The building offers a blend of therapeutic supportive rooms alongside general classroom spaces designed to support the academic, social and emotional progress of the students. 

History
Churchward School was approved by the Department for Education in 2016 with the intention of providing life-changing opportunities for some of the most challenged young people in our community. With bespoke educational packages and highly specialised staff, Churchward equips students with the skills to enable them to make appropriate life choices, achieve their aspirations, build and maintain social relationships and accomplish excellent outcomes.

Why Churchward?
The name Churchward School was chosen by our stakeholders including staff, students and Governors.

Churchward School is proud to be a part of the Brunel Academies Trust (Brunel) where it can benefit from shared resources and expertise from other Schools across Swindon.  The Brunel Academies Trust was named after the Great Western Railway Engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This led us to choose the name ‘Churchward’ which makes reference to the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, George Jackson Churchward.