About The School
Please read a letter from the Proprietor and our Ofsted Report.
Blue Skies is an independent special school, based in Medway, which offers a unique service to children and young adults aged 11-25 on the autism spectrum. It is an extremely caring school with a holistic approach towards education, catering for students in Medway, Kent and the surrounding areas.
We believe it is important for students to achieve their full potential, to ensure this we offer a rich and stimulating curriculum, individually tailored to our student’s needs, supported by strong pastoral care, social and emotional support and various therapies. We reflect good practice in an environment that supports our students learning.
Blue Skies School was founded in April 2008 by Fran Higgins. Fran worked for a vast number of years in special needs within the maintained sector and was instrumental in the inception and running of a nationally recognised centre for autism. Within the independent sector, Fran saw the opportunity to create a school which held the students and their needs at the forefront and gave them the best opportunity to succeed in life.
Blue Skies is a family run business, now owned by Fran’s children Lauren and Jo. They are very happy to continue the school in the vision in which it was created and are passionate about providing the best possible provision for the students of Blue Skies and their futures. Due to the family nature of the business and its small size, past staff and students have described the school and its stakeholders as a ‘family’.
Following on from the successful Ofsted judgement in June 2016, Blue Skies was granted permission to expand both the number on roll, and the age ranges offered by the school.
Currently there are 21 children on roll at Blue Skies, however, this can now be increased. In addition, Blue Skies has begun exploring options for their 19-25 provision, which is very much in its infancy and provides an exciting opportunity for the school and local community.
In the future, Blue Skies would like to acquire an additional site to further develop this provision and extend the schools current offering.