Our Story

Our story begins with our own personal experience. As parents of a young man with autism and severe learning difficulties who is on the cusp of adulthood, we were very aware that the kind of provision he needed on leaving school was nowhere to be found in our local area. And as teachers in special schools we had always known young people in a similar situation: their difficulties complex enough to need a highly personalised programme, yet benefitting from belonging to a peer group, from being based in a stable and secure environment and from supported integration into the local community. And so the idea of Stepping Out was born.

Having retired from our teaching jobs in order to make the idea a reality, we have begun to plan. We want this website to record our story as it develops. Our vision for Stepping Out is that it will become a community of young people (known as members), parents, carers, employees and local people, in which all are valued and contribute in different ways to its growth.