A school for Autistic young people will be opened at Northdown House in Margate.
Life Skills Enterprise has been selected by Thanet council as the new tenant of the Grade II listed building following a call for prospective tenants who might use the property for leisure, hospitality or educational purposes.
The organisation took over the lease today {November 8} and will set up a day school for young people aged 10 to 18 with Autistic Spectrum Condition. At full capacity, the new school could provide up to 80 specialist placements, requiring up to 40 staff with a proposed opening in 2025.
The new school will provide skills-based lessons focused on the day to day running of the school, for example food preparation and building maintenance for post-16 students. The long-term aim is for Life Skills Enterprise to help provide students with the practical skills needed for independent living and future employment.
The school will operate with small classroom sizes, accommodating around eight to ten students in each, supported by a high staff-to-student ratio of one teacher and two teaching assistants per class. The curriculum will include core academic subjects, alongside life skills and therapeutic interventions.
Further specialised therapeutic services will be offered, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and counselling. These will support the students’ emotional and social development, with the aim of preparing them for adulthood and employability.
As part of the lease, Life Skills Enterprise will carry out improvements to Northdown House, to include:
- Full internal refurbishment
- Repairing or replacing windows
- Work to the main entrance and porch
- Work to the exterior of the building
- Resurfacing the car park
- Reinstating the Secret Jungle, Northdown Park’s walled garden
In addition to upgrading the building and setting up the school, Life Skills Enterprise also plans to open the Secret Jungle to the members of the public, free of charge, at specific times during the week. The Secret Jungle has been shut to the public since July 2018. The all-inclusive play area designed to allow disabled and able-bodied children to play alongside each other.
As part of a further rolling programme of developments, there are also plans to open a community café.
Northdown House sits within the grounds of Northdown Park. The park itself is not included in the lease, and will remain open for public use. Fences and gates will be installed to safeguard the children and also to retain the existing public right of way.
Cllr Ruth Duckworth, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Property at Thanet District Council, said: “I’m so pleased that we have secured a new tenant for Northdown House, and one that will provide a real benefit to local families in need of specialist education for their children.
“Northdown House is a beautiful building in a picturesque setting, and the works that will be carried out will help to safeguard the property for future generations.”
Paul Barrett, Director and founder of Life Skills Manor and Life Skills Enterprise, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have been given the opportunity to restore Northdown House as a school that caters for children aged 10-18 with a primary diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition.
“The need for a provision with specialist placements continues to grow and Northdown House, along with the Secret Jungle, natural woodland and beautiful surroundings, will enable local children to flourish.
“We have a proven track record of creating high-quality specialist provision, and I would encourage people to view our partnership school at www.lifeskillsmanor.co.uk”
When Life Skills Manor opened its site at Baypoint in 2022, Paul told The Isle of Thanet News that he was spurred to create more specialist education places after his own son was diagnosed with autism.
Paul, who taught at St George’s for 13 years before becoming deputy head at St Anthony’s school for four years, said: “We got an Educational Health Care Plan but to get a placement we had to go to tribunal and I thought it was just shocking. I knew what I was doing, being in education, but I just thought I could do something better.”
Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the new school, or in applying for a place, should contact [email protected]
Excellent use of facilities.
Yes, initially I thought what a good use of the building. But a friend has told me that the house was bequeathed to the people of Thanet for public use.
Like so many other assets in Thanet, for years TDC have not maintained Northdown House.
Maybe the covenant on Northdown House prevents TDC from being able to sell it and it seems to be from the lease agreement details quoted in this article, that this contract with Life Skill Enterprise is simply a way of TDC not having to fund the repairs themselves.
Yes, it is a good decision financially for TDC taxpayers in this time of such limited budgets, but I am just asking the question of whether TDC are abiding by the details of the bequest of the building being for public use or is TDC adapting it for their own convenience?
“Fences and gates will be installed to safeguard the children and also to retain the existing public right of way.” As the house is surrounded by the park, I’d like to know what areas are going to be fenced off. Obviously the children need to be safe but how much of the park is going to be taken for this and does TDC have the right to do so?
These comments are not in objection to this project. I just believe we have the right to know all the facts and maybe others have more information on the bequest than I do. We have to ensure that TDC is full transparent, which sadly we all know they often are not.
Well done to all involved in this excellent project on all angles.
Given the Grase 2 listed status it’ll be interesting to see what works will be allowed and how much originality the council will insist is retained , materials and techniques to used etc. Going to be a very expensive building to heat, solid walls no insulation, single glazed sash windows.
Are the council actually being paid for the lease or is it effectively being gifted in return for the works agreed? Howmlong is the lease?
Long standing rumours suggest that the terms of the gift to the council are that if not used for the purposes intended it should be returned to the family that gifted it to the borough. However , it’s said, tthat in the dim and distant past some of the houses that formed prt of the gift were used for council housing and then had to be sold under right to buy, as such if the council were gappy to return the house and grounds to the original family they couldn’t in its entirety and there’d be a big bun fight over the houses sold off, to avoid this its much easier to keep it on the councils books. Lots of hearsay , rumour and suggestion in all that but its been consistent for many years.