Specialist teaching and SEND support
EmpowerEd North offers individual home tuition, academic support and specialist SEND education. We support children who need a little extra help with learning and confidence, as well as autistic children and young people and learners with more complex needs.
Support is calm and shaped around each learner, from patient explanations and practice with schoolwork to sensory-informed teaching and communication support.
Explore home tuition, join a sensory story or talk with us about commissioned education support. Families are welcome to get in touch directly, even if you are not sure which option would fit.
Find the right support
You might be looking for individual teaching, an enjoyable shared activity or a more carefully planned education package. Start with the option that feels closest to what you need.
Individual teaching for children and young people aged 5 and over, including help with English, maths, gaps in learning and confidence. Tuition is tailored to each learner, from extra academic help to specialist support for autistic children and young people and those with learning disabilities.
From £35 per hour, with the full cost agreed on enquiry, including any travel charge.
Explore home tuitionCalm, interactive stories at The Hearth in Horsley, with space to explore, communicate and join in at an individual pace.
School-age sessions at 10am and age 16+ sessions at 1pm. See the upcoming dates, flyers and booking information.
Find a sensory storyIndividual education and transition support planned with families, schools, colleges or local authorities. Each placement is considered around the learner's needs and agreed support arrangements.
School-age placements are normally part-time and form part of a wider education plan.
Explore commissioned supportA possible small-group programme for autistic learners aged around 12–16 with social communication differences.
This is still being developed and is not yet open for places. Families can share their views through the pilot survey.
Help shape the pilotWhy EmpowerEd North?
EmpowerEd North is led by Janice March, a specialist SEND and autism teacher and experienced senior SEND leader with over 20 years' experience supporting autistic young people and learners with severe learning disabilities, complex communication needs and highly individual profiles.
Janice holds a Certificate of Education and a Postgraduate Certificate in Autism with Distinction. Her experience spans mainstream schools, specialist provision and further education, including senior leadership. The provision she established and led at Benfield School received national recognition in 2016.
She has Designated Safeguarding Lead training, updated safeguarding and Prevent training, and a current Level 3 First Aid at Work qualification. Read about Janice's experience and qualifications.
Janice also brings lived family experience of autism, which informs her understanding of how complex and emotional it can be for families to navigate education, support and next steps.
Our work is practical, sensory-informed and relationship-based: understanding the learner, reducing pressure, building trust and helping the adults around them know what support actually works. Our aim is to provide meaningful education by working on the things that will make the biggest difference to each young person and to the people who care for them.
Goals are personal to each learner. They may include understanding a maths concept, growing in reading confidence, communicating wants and needs, feeling safe enough to learn, sharing space safely, accessing familiar places, building independence, preparing for appointments or moving towards a next step.
How we work
Support is shaped around the individual, whether they attend school and need extra academic help or need a more personalised approach to education. Sessions can be low-demand, practical, play-based, sensory-informed, community-based or highly structured depending on the learner's age, stage and needs.
Education is understood broadly: not only completing tasks, but building the communication, regulation, independence and confidence that help a young person take part in everyday life.
For one learner, progress might be sharing space with another person. For another, it might be using a communication system, joining a short learning routine, building early literacy or numeracy confidence, visiting a familiar place, moving back towards school or preparing for a later next step.
EmpowerEd North is a specialist alternative provision and is not currently a registered school, independent special school, college or Section 41 provider. Each placement is planned with the family, school, college, local authority or other commissioner, with age/status, suitability, support level, safety, attendance pattern and review arrangements agreed before a learner starts.
Bespoke transition support
Some learners need careful support before they can move on. This might mean returning to a familiar learning routine, building confidence after reduced attendance, preparing for a new class or setting, moving towards secondary school, starting college later on, accessing social or leisure opportunities, attending appointments or becoming more confident in community spaces.
We can work gradually with the learner so they feel safer with the adults, places, routines and expectations involved in the next step.
Where agreed, we can liaise with the school, college, setting, social care team or community organisation receiving the learner.
This may include visual supports, social stories, graded visits, sharing strategies, modelling approaches and helping other adults understand what works.
Whether you are a parent, carer or professional, you are welcome to get in touch. Tell us a little about the learner and what you are hoping for, and we will help you explore the options.
