The Bridge Integrated Learning Space caters for young people aged up to 19 years who have Severe Learning Difficulties and/or Autistic Spectrum Condition. The school will have 25 secondary places, eight of which will be provided with residential accommodation on site. The ILS is a unique and exciting provision for young people who may find a special school setting too big and too overwhelming. We have designed all the spaces to address the individual barriers to learning which young people face. These might include extreme sensory modulation difficulties, communication difficulties, learning disabilities, a lack of continuity between home and school, parents lacking in the capacity to provide support, housing issues and environmental pressures faced by living everyday life in London.
A key part of The Bridge ILS will be the provision of a residential facility, the residential unit provides respite facilities for those families which are facing the biggest challenges. While these spaces have been designed specifically with these young people’s needs in mind, they have also been carefully thought about to be as homely as possible. The Bridge ILS will provide accommodation for 8 young people in individual bedrooms with shared living, dining and kitchen spaces.
The residential provision also allows for staff bedrooms, a sensory room and a wide range of bathroom and WC facilities to suit the varying needs of the young people. A large focus of The Bridge ILS has been the approach to the landscape which has been themed around a river and its banks due to the shape of the external play area with play islands, river banks and decks, small retreat areas, boulder and timber challenging play, horticultural areas and areas for social interaction.
