Northmead’s COIN Centre, which is situated in the main school building, offers specialised provision for 15 children with developmental language disorder (DLD) or high functioning autism within a mainstream junior school setting. The COIN Centre is an integral part of the school and the Centre children are full members of their mainstream classes.

After registering with their mainstream teacher in the morning, our children make their way to the Centre where they are taught until lunch. Pupils from years 3, 4, 5, and 6 are taught together in one spacious room and most of the teaching is done in small groups. Groupings are based on the children’s levels of achievement, rather than on their chronological age. This allows each child to progress at his or her own pace.

In the afternoon the Centre children return to their mainstream classrooms. Break and lunch times too, are spent with their mainstream friends. All the school’s extracurricular activities, day trips, residential trips and other special events are open to the Centre children.