Welcome to Medeshamstede Academy.  Medeshamstede is the original Saxon name for Peterborough and means ‘meadow homestead’.  

Our ethos aims to educate all pupils through a positive, inclusive and enabling environment, in belonging to a community that understands autism as a difference rather than a deficit.  We celebrate our pupils’ strengths and interests, putting the person at the centre of their learning, for their voice to be heard.  We believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently by seeing the world through the lens of autism.

Our vision is ‘to enable all children and young people to achieve their goals, participate and contribute to their community for life’. 

Our shared purpose is to empower our pupils to overcome their barriers by fully meeting their needs so that they engage, learn and apply new skills and knowledge. 

We do this by:

• Blending research-based autism approaches and a shared language throughout our provision.
• A holistic, quality first curriculum and pedagogy that enables communication and interaction, social thinking and builds skills for personal development, well-being, emotional & sensory regulation and independence.
• Ambitious aspirations; giving pupils a voice, social confidence and a sense of community; preparing them well for their next steps in education, adulthood and employment.
• Living real values of kindness, respect, resilience, empathy, understanding, inclusivity and openness.

We aim to achieve an inclusive learning community for all through:

• A person-centred approach that fully meets the needs of individuals and their families, within our culture of autism.

• Collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure aspirations and outcomes of Education, Health and Care Plans are fully achieved.
• A culture of learning: a centre of excellence and support for pupils along with professional development of all colleagues.

Medeshamstede Academy is committed to making a difference to the lives of autistic children and young people.  As part of our commitment to establishing Good Autism Practice, we partnered with the Autism Education Trust (AET) in April 2020.  The AET is an award-winning, nationwide social franchise.  As part of this network of dedicated professionals and organisations, we aim to help others better support autistic children and young people, placing the child and their voice at the heart of this process.  

Through establishing the Medeshamstede Learning Centre, as the exclusive AET licence holders, we deliver training to other professionals and organisations for early years through to post-16 across the city of Peterborough.   We deliver a quality-assured, evidence-based, DfE-supported and CPD certified autism training programme.  By adopting the AET frameworks and standards alongside the training programmes, we aim to add real value to our work.

Our website has been designed to provide you with some useful information and to share with you our culture; why, how and what we do at Medeshamstede Academy. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

I warmly welcome you and your child to Medeshamstede Academy.

Mrs Laura Ives 
Principal