Emma Willis, Co-Headteacher
Emma joined Acorn Park in 2007 as a Speech and Language Therapy Assistant and has since held various positions within the school. Following 7 years within the Senior Leadership team, Emma is now proudly Acting Co-Headteacher, jointly leading the school.
She has extensive experience of classroom teaching, curriculum development, ASD and SEND knowledge. As Co-Headteacher and leader of the formal pathway, Emma is dedicated to the academic journey and quality of education for our young people.
Adam Masterson, Co-Headteacher
Adam joined Acorn Park in January 2014 as a class teacher. Since joining Acorn Park Adam has held many different roles within school and after 5 years on the Senior leadership team is now proudly Acting Co-Headteacher, jointly leading the school.
Adam has worked with autistic young people since 2012 in school, college and also supporting families with autistic children. Adam’s passion within autism lies in supporting the needs of the students and focusing on planning for the future to ensure students are able to grow and reach their full potential.
Georgeena Taylor, Therapy and Wellbeing Lead and Occupational Therapy Lead.
Georgeena started working at Acorn Park in May 2022, as a Specialist Occupational Therapist. Before Acorn Park, she was fortunate enough to work in very rewarding clinical settings including: a child and adolescent mental health hospital, community mental health and crisis response team, primary care, residential services and within school settings.
Georgeena has continued to develop her specialism in Sensory Integration, obtaining Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner status, and uses this to guide and support interpretation of the young people’s presentations and their own unique sensory profiles.
Karen McAtear, Deputy Head Formal Pathway
Karen came to Acorn Park in December 2018 initially as an English teacher. She soon after became the Head of English and Building Lead for the secondary school before taking on her current role as Deputy Headteacher for the Formal Curriculum Pathway.
Karen graduated from university with an honours degree in English Literature. She then completed her teacher training and a Masters degree in Autism. Since then, Karen has completed her NPQSL and NPQH qualifications for senior leaders in schools.
Prior to coming to Acorn Park, Karen taught in a wide variety of educational settings across East Anglia, both mainstream and specialist settings. Karen has a passion for teaching and ensuring that all children receive the very best educational experience possible.
Sarah Short, Deputy Head, Semi Formal pathway.
Sarah joined Acorn Park in January 2023 initially as an SEN class teacher before progressing to Deputy Head for the Semi-Formal pathway. She brings 8 years experience from mainstream key-stage 1, EYFS and reading leadership at a Short Stay School developing teaching and learning across primary aged pupils. As a year leader in this time, Sarah supported trainee teachers, bespoke classroom provision for SEN pupils and completed her NPQML qualification. Her passion for enabling success and maximising every individual pupils potential is at the heart of her commitment to Acorn Park and the wider school community.
Our SWIFT Team
The wellbeing of children and families is of the greatest importance to us at Acorn Park and so we have a dedicated family and pastoral support team, our SWIFT team – Student, Welfare, Integration, Family Team.
This team works across the school with young people, families and outside agencies to improve the welfare, wellbeing and integration of our learners and to provide support and advice for families as we recognise that supporting a child with Autism and often other conditions, can be challenging, exhausting and at times, incredibly lonely.
Family Outreach
Our Family Outreach Team work in the home and community with families and carers to provide support to pupils not attending school, requiring home support ( referral is through the SWIFT team) or with specific challenges.
They run parenting courses and group meetings as well as facilitating training and sourcing local speakers and support groups.