School History

Back in 2004, a number of parents from the Carlow area began the process of lobbying the Government for the setting up a school specifically for children with Autism and Complex Needs. Succeeding in achieving grant funding from the Department of Education, Saplings School Carlow opened its doors in 2007 as an Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Pilot School.

ABA is a scientific behavioural approach and its effectiveness with children with autism is well documented. At that time, the school was headed up by a Behaviour Analysts and a cohort of intensively and specially trained tutors to work on a 1:1 ratio with the students.
As a pilot scheme, our funding was only ever guaranteed for three years at a time and the threat of closure was always a possibility. So, we and 12 other ABA Pilot Schools entered negotiations with the Department of Education around 2008 with a view to our model of education being recognised in its own right with secure funding. By June 2010 we had entered into an agreement with the Department of Education whereby we would begin the transition towards becoming Special Schools for Children with Autism and Complex Needs. Under this agreement we now also employed a Principal to lead the school and teachers and our tutors were now re-classified as SNAs. It was in September of 2016 that we received our full recognition as a ‘Special School’.

The school originally started with 6 pupils in a converted bungalow on our Graiguecullen site. We have now expanded to Killeshin and accommodate 30 pupils. Our staffing consists of Principal and Behaviour Analyst, 5 teachers and 17 SNA’s, secretary, 11 bus escorts and a part time caretaker. Our cohort of students range from 4 years to 18 years and have severe to mild learning difficulties with Autism being the primary diagnosis. Our ethos is very distinct from other types of schools. We have an ‘Evidence-based’ Ethos which is defined by our Patron Body, Saplings Schools Ltd., and was formally accepted by the Minister of Education.