The Windmill Centre

Millbank Gardens is a mainstream primary school. We work hard to stretch and challenge each individual student, and it is important to us that every child is able to reach their potential. To help achieve this, we have a small centre within our school that provides support for children with Autism Spectrum Condition. This is called the Windmill Centre, and it is a locally-recognised centre of excellence for children with this condition. We are proud of the progress that children at the Windmill Centre make in our care, and the results achieved by recent Year 6 leavers are testimony to the ambitions we have for them.

The Windmill Centre works with children who are able to benefit from and achieve success in a mainstream classroom, but who require some additional facilities and interventions to allow them to do so. It has its own recently-refurbished base at the heart of the school. This has two classrooms as well as sensory rooms and space for small group work. Children in the Windmill Centre spend some of their time in mainstream lessons and the rest of their time in this base. It is here that our specialist teachers and teaching assistants provide teaching or support that focuses on areas and skills that they find more challenging, using a variety of evidence-based teaching approaches. We work closely, where appropriate, with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to meet children’s broader educational needs.

Each child’s timetable is personalised to them, and the amount of time they spend with their mainstream peers is tailored to meet their best interests. However, where children do not spend much time in mainstream lessons, we work carefully to support them to do so. We believe that this helps children at our provision to develop their social and communication skills with other children of their own age, as well as allowing them the chance to expand their friendship groups. It also breaks down barriers, allowing children from across the school to interact with each other in a diverse and inclusive environment.

Admission to the Windmill Centre is managed by Westminster City Council, although we do welcome children from other local authority areas. Children are almost always expected to have an EHCP before joining our provision, and families who wish to apply for our setting should speak to their child’s case worker at their home local authority. If your child does not have an EHCP or you would like more information about the Windmill Centre, you are warmly invited to contact Emily Jones, our Windmill Lead Teacher, via the school office. She is always happy to speak to prospective parents so that they can discuss whether our setting might be right for their child.