A specialist school in west Cumbria has recently appointed a new head of school. 

The Cumbria Academy for Autism based in Workington now has a new head, Kara Smallman. 

The academy offers opportunities to children and young people with autism in West Cumbria. 

They say that they believe all autistic children, given the right environment, are capable of excellence in all areas of their academic and personal lives, both now and in the future.

The academy explains on their website that they want to give all the children an opportunity to reach their full potential in life by preparing them for adulthood, so they may lead fulfilled happy, and purposeful lives.

Kara Smallman, the newly appointed headteacher at the Cumbria Academy for Autism said: "We've been through a recruitment process for a new head of school with Chris Williams who is our executive headteacher at the minute.

"I'm absolutely delighted to have been appointed, the interview was robust and challenging. 

"We're planning on continuing to develop our curriculum which will help young people to become more independent learners and independent people in our community. 

"That's our main thing, developing life skills and how we prepare people for the world of work. 

"I've been in various teaching roles over the last few years, I was at Mayfield School for 17 years and I was their behaviour lead.

"I taught lots of students in that time of different age groups, so I've got a lot of experience with special needs and young people with autism. 

"We have a really good and dedicated team that I'm proud to be working with in order to be the best that we can be."

John Moffatt, chair of trustees, added: "We're delighted that after a rigorous interview process, we've managed to appoint Kara Smallman as our head of school. 

"Kara's got a lot of experience in the SEND environment and we look forward to having her drive the standards of the school. 

"The school opened in 2019 as a free school and we've had a major restructure of our leadership team in the last six months and at the moment we are waiting for OFSTED."