A specialist south Bucks secondary school was invited to be part of an international education conference in South Africa earlier this month.

Staff from the Chiltern Way Federation were asked by the British Council to attend the International Inclusive Education Conference in Cape Town which ran from March 16 to 17.

The school, which has campuses in Prestwood and Wendover, provides education for pupils with a wide range of social and emotional needs including high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

Principal Ian McCaul said: “All the people we met were amazing, they make so much of the resources they have. It was a real levelling experience - we could learn a lot from them.

“We are very used to doing behaviour outreach work to support schools and other organisations but this was on a whole new scale.

“We presented on the subject of ‘How to Manage Challenging Behaviour in Class Sizes of 50 Plus’. This was as part of the British Council’s ‘Connecting Classrooms’ initiative.

“The delegates were policy makers from Sub Saharan African countries. The presentation went very well and the school has made a lot of new friends.

“The British Council truly is a magnificent organisation and really quite unique. I am not sure it is as well known in the UK as it should be.

“The work it is doing to build cultural relations between the UK and rest of the world is brilliant. It is something that the UK should be hugely proud of.”