Secondary School Funding of £5000 Available for Autistic Students

Published: 19 April 2024

The Sheila Coates Foundation rapid impact fund Round 8 is open for applications until 7th May. It offers funding of £5,000 to mainstream secondary schools and colleges across England. Click the ‘apply now’ button at the bottom of this page to access the online application form Small awards to address real issues facing autistic students (sheilacoates.foundation).

SCF’s rapid impact fund releases small awards to address real issues facing autistic students in a short time frame. Between 2021 and 2023 seven rapid impact rounds helped over 12,500 autistic students in over 350 schools and colleges to access mainstream education.

After SCF rapid impact funding, upwards of 97% of schools reported an impact after even 5 months. Quick, practical solutions can make a difference. Read more here.

In this funding round, there will be a single focus:

Mental health and well-being in autistic young people.

Just like everyone, autistic young people can have good mental health. However, a significant number, around 70%, have mental health difficulties. Studies show that support for these can be hard to get, and that school/college staff say they feel under confident.

In all seven of SCF rapid impact funding rounds, over half of applications have asked for funding to support mental health conditions such as anxiety. This tells us there is a great need. With funding, schools and colleges can make a difference with practical solutions such as sensory spaces and equipment, training and development, additional staff time or specialist interventions.

To tackle this issue SCF is offering one-off awards of £5,000 to mainstream secondary schools, colleges or other mainstream-based provision in local authorities across England. This is for short-term solutions which can be put in place immediately.

Education