What would you do with £5,000?
Watch out for our next funding round, late April 2025.
We’ve probably all dreamed of a £5,000 windfall - that holiday in the sun you’ve always wanted, a posh new carpet, contributions towards your next new car.
How about creating the conditions for autistic students to excel and achieve, flourish and succeed at learning, setting them on course for life?
When we proposed the idea of offering small awards of just £5,000 to secondary schools and colleges, some were sceptical. What could schools do with just £5,000?
It turns out - quite a lot!
Over the past four years, Sheila Coates Foundation has run eight rapid impact rounds in England. Our aim has been to fund really practical activities that can be put in place quickly. We ask schools and colleges to be creative and innovative and we’ve kept the process simple. Since 2021 we have awarded over £1.8m helping 455 schools and colleges and supporting over 18,000 autistic students.
We’ve funded some amazing initiatives from schools and colleges. Many have set up sensory or safe spaces - ranging from refurbished classrooms, to outdoor cabins, to roof-top gardens.
Funding additional hours for staff has meant supporting autistic students in breakfast and lunch clubs or after school activities - things that previously they couldn’t or chose not to access. And we have funded really unusual activities like a course at a climbing wall, surf therapy or awareness-raising videos made by autistic young people.
And £5,000 can have a huge impact. Schools and colleges let us know about the difference Sheila Coates Foundation funding has made to their autistic students. It’s both heartwarming and impressive. Where we funded sensory spaces, autistic students can see the benefit:
“It's a place where I feel calm when my day is loud and busy.”
After SCF-funded training, a group of autistic girls reflected:
Our funding really helped staff develop their understanding:
“the training has really changed my perspective on autism, I feel I am in a better position to identify autistic students I might have missed or assumed were getting on fine before.”
Read more stories from schools.
How would you spend £5,000 to improve the experiences of your autistic students? Get your thinking caps on and watch out for our next funding round late April 2025!