About Us

The Jigsaw Trust is a registered Charity set up in 1999 by a group of local parents with autistic children.   Through the Trust, The Jigsaw CABAS® School opened in September 1999 with 6 pupils.   It is registered as an independent day school for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.  it is one of a few schools in the UK offering a structured programme of intensive intervention based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA).

The school has now expanded and provides a primary and secondary resource for up to 40 pupils from 5 through to 19 years of age.  The school has developed links with the local authorities and other local provision, and continues to develop its broad curriculum and develop strategies for inclusion.

During the next few years it intends to extend upwards to provide for young adults through specialist college provision and in 2009 opened a new Life Skills Centre as an added resource for the The Jigsaw School students.

The school operates for 43 weeks a year divided into 3 school terms.  It has a staffing ratio of 1 member of staff to each pupil.  Each pupil at the school works on a programme designed around a broad and varied curriculum that encompasses the National Curriculum, but is geared to their individual needs.  It is this specialist learner-centred education and structured support that helps to maximise the skills of the pupils and helps them achieve their full potential as they grow into adults.  Allied with the Life Skills Centre, Jigsaw recognises the education is key to providing its children with the resources to realise this potential.

"Although direct provision for children with autism is increasing slowly, the demand still far outweighs the actual places available" Paul Cann. Ex-Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society