A specialist day college for autistic young people based in London has been nominated for a prestigious award recognising its innovative approach to further education.
Ambitious College, which is run by national charity Ambitious about Autism, has been nominated for the Innovative specialist/mainstream partnership working award at the 2025 NatSpec Innovation Awards.
The NatSpec Innovation awards recognise and celebrate innovative practice in specialist further education colleges, and initiatives that result in improved outcomes for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
Ambitious College, which supports autistic young people aged 16-25, has partnerships with two mainstream further education colleges; the College of Haringey, Enfield, and North East London (CONEL) which has a campus in Tottenham, North London and West Thames College, which is based in Isleworth, West London.
Through these partnerships, young people attending Ambitious College access learning, social, employment and leisure opportunities alongside their peers in the mainstream colleges, whilst receiving the specialist support they need.
This year’s nomination, which highlights the success of this partnership model, marks the third nomination Ambitious College has received at an annual NatSpec awards. In 2020 it was nominated in the home learning category, and then again in 2021, in the wellbeing and mental health category. The college won both awards.
Nicola Hawkins, Head of Ambitious College, said: “We’re honoured to have been nominated for this prestigious award at the NatSpec Innovation Awards. Through our co-located model, we can offer autistic young people the benefits of specialist support combined with the opportunity to forge wider relationships within the community.
“We’d like to thank our co-located partners at the College of Haringey, Enfield, and North East London and West Thames College for their continued commitment to supporting Ambitious College learners to thrive and realise their ambitions.”
In addition to its partnerships with mainstream further education colleges, Ambitious College has also partnered with the Whittington Hospital, in Archway, North London, offering supported internships to autistic young people.
Supported internships are courses aimed at young people aged 16-25, who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and want to move into work but need extra support to do so. The programme enables the young people to develop their employability skills and gain valuable work experience at the hospital.
In September, Ambitious College will launch its second supported internship partnership with Amazon, providing further employment opportunities to autistic young people.
