Prestley Wood Academy provides an inclusive environment centred around ECO values, with forest school learning at its heart. It is Alconbury Weald’s Special Educational Needs School and serves children and young people aged 3 to 19. The academy includes a centre for autism and a specialist centre for 19-25 year olds with profound and complex learning difficulties, including medical needs.
Prestley Wood Academy, Alconbury Weald’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) school welcomed its first 70 students in early September 2024. Following a staggered start for its first cohort, numbers will gradually rise to 150 over the next few years.
The ECO values and landscape design of the school support the curriculum to provide a range of initiatives including residential and educational visits, forest school learning, specialist art-creativity, and sport and fitness. Pupils receive high-quality vocational education and employability training as well as skills to support them to live independently. Older students have the opportunity to set up a café and shop, which the community can use, to develop their experiences and build links with local residents. The building will also provide a specialist hydrotherapy pool, which it is hoped can be opened up to the wider community.
Prestley Wood Academy is run as its own school but with strong links to Huntingdon’s nearby Spring Common Academy Trust, which is part of the same Horizons Academy Trust. It shares the significant expertise of the Executive Head and central team, who have made the Huntingdon school a huge success, as recognised through its ‘outstanding’ 2018 Ofsted rating and recent autism accreditation renewal.
Prestley Wood Academy welcomes first students
