Harry watts academy 5

Important: A Message to Prospective Parents/Carers

We would first like to thank you for your interest in our school, Harry Watts Academy.

We would like to make everyone aware that, as a school, we are currently operating over capacity with pupil numbers. We are currently consulting regarding expanding our numbers, however this would be for pupils already identified to come to Harry Watts Academy by the Local Authority.  

We appreciate that prospective parents/ carers would like to visit potential schools for their child/ young person. Unfortunately, at the moment this is not possible and we have postponed visits for the foreseeable. 

Due to a significantly high demand in request for visits, we simply do not have the capacity to fulfil all requests for visits that we get on a daily basis. Whilst we completely understand parents/carers would like to visit schools before the consultation process we cannot accommodate the sheer volume of requests. 

We also need to understand the specific needs of your child in order to ensure any visit is meaningful and appropriate. At Harry Watts, we meet the needs of a wide range of pupils based on their age, stage of development, social and academic needs across three curriculum pathways and two school sites. Therefore, in order to ensure any visit is meaningful to you as parents/carers, we do need to go through the SEN referral process, in order to arrange a visit to the most appropriate site for the pathway the pupil would be on. Harry Watts does not have a primary or secondary age site and pupils can move between the sites if they change pathways during their time with us. 

For parents/carers that would like to see our different sites prior to this, we do have video tours of both Harraton and Redhouse below and hope that you find these useful.

Who is Harry Watts Academy For?

Harry Watts Academy is a 160-place special school for children between the ages of 5-16, who have a diagnosis of both Autism and Complex Learning Disabilities, with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Harry Watts Academy is split over two sites, with our Engage and Explore pathways based at Redhouse, and Discover based at Harraton.

All places are commissioned by the Local Authority, which is Together for Children, Sunderland. Please speak with the TfC SEN team or your SEN case worker for further information.

Together for Children - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Team | Sunderland Information Point

Please be aware that we do not offer places directly and cannot discuss individual cases.

Tour of Harry Watts Academy Redhouse

Tour of Harry Watts Academy Harraton