Studying at NCW aims to prepare young adults for the future not just academically, but in skills for life in a sighted world. Each student aspires individually to reach their potential across a range of courses, skills training and work experience opportunities. We are also specialists in working with children with other needs such as hearing impairment, Autism and ADHD.
Curriculum Framework for the Vision Impaired (CFVI)
All students will study the Specialist VI curriculum alongside their options. The Specialist VI curriculum will include: – Mobility, Access Technology, Braille, Activities for Daily Living (ADL) as well as PE, Study Skills, Careers Enhancement Programme and PSHE.
Broad Spectrum of Expertise
While NCW is a school for students with a vision impairment primarily, it is not just VI needs that we can cater in our specialisms; many young people present with other additional needs and staff are trained and experienced across a range of needs such as:
- Hearing impairment
- Multi Sensory impairment (deafblind)
- Neurodivergent differences such as Autism and ADHD
- Social, emotional, and mental health needs
- Speech, language and communication difficulties
- Medical and physical needs
- Mild to moderate learning difficulties
- Specific learning differences such as – dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia
- Basic skill areas such as IT, literacy and numeracy
Staff within education and residential settings have received training in these areas including:
- Intervenor training for MSI students
- Autism and ADHD awareness
- Mental health first aid
- Word aware – speech and language intervention
We have a number of educational programmes which can be weaved into student pathways at NCW which cater for these needs alongside the CFVI supporting all VI specific needs.
We work closely with other organisations supporting young people with special needs, such as Deafblind UK, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and The National Autistic Society.
Students who are not vision impaired
From 2026 NCW will be welcoming a small and carefully considered group of non‑vision impaired students to our day provision only, whose secondary and tertiary needs closely mirror those of our current blind and vision‑impaired students. This decision reflects our expertise as a specialist school in supporting complex learning, communication, independence and additional needs and ensures that all students educated at NCW continue to benefit from the same highly specialist, personalised and residential provision that defines our community.
Our teaching will continue to be VI-specialist and led by Qualified Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (QTVI’s). We do not want to jeopardise that, the expansion does not involve reducing or diluting NCW’s delivery of the Curriculum Framework for Vision Impairment (CFVI).
Integrating sighted students into our community
A fundamental guiding principle is that students admitted to the school will be integrating into our environment. Our teaching methods, classroom practice, routines and curriculum are designed around the VI world, and this will remain the case.
Students who join us without a vision impairment will be taught using VI friendly approaches and will learn within a culture shaped by inclusion, accessibility and understanding of vision impairment. We believe this “reverse inclusion” model strengthens, rather than undermines, our specialist ethos, while allowing us to continue our offering for generations to come. It is also something we have seen to work in other schools like ours.
Maintaining the NCW identity
Being a specialist school for children and young people with vision impairment is central to who we are and this will not change. Vision impairment will continue to sit at the heart of our provision, our staffing expertise, our culture and our educational approach.
Don’t See it? Just Ask!
We have listed our main courses in our Lower school Options booklet and our Sixth Form Options booklet but you can enquire about any course as it may well be possible for us to provide it.
