In My Life….

There are places I’ll remember,all my life..

Lennon-McCartney 1965

Change is afoot in this corner of East Cheshire.Not only have we recently moved house (more on this in a future post) but also a small girl of my acquaintance is preparing to move schools.

Pearl has been attending her current school since the age of three. It is simply splendid, and anywhere else will be hard pressed to match it.

Finding your child needs Special Education tends to come at a time when you are already trying to shoehorn your expectations into a new and unusual shaped container that you didn’t order or particularly know how to use.

Developmental milestones? Not met

Speech? Non existent.

Muscle tone and coordination? Not so much.

Walking?

Meh.

Somebody mentioned something called “School for Parents”which ran every week. They took their child and thought it was wonderful.

It sounded good, but at the time we were so swamped with medical appointments, weekly Physiotherapy,the Child Development Centre, and Hydrotherapy. I couldn’t see how to fit it in.It wasn’t  even local, but a half an hour drive into the next County.

Finally totally disillusioned with the CDC, and with Pearl about to start supported sessions at our local nursery I thought we’d give it a go.

Long story short-a terrible first session in which Pearl wept consistently, future friends daughter with Williams Syndrome (who can’t handle loud noises) shouted “stop it Pearl”,and I felt like a bad parent. Two further sessions in which Pearl improved sitting balance(yes in two two hour sessions!)and generally had a blast, convinced me that Conductive Education was our route forward.

“I wish she could go there permanently ” says I.

“Well” from the ever practical Mr PJ.

“Isn’t that what her statement is for”

And it was, and it is and she did!

For the next two weeks  Pearl’s last at Horton Lodge  I will be writing daily about what this school has meant to us.Partly as a huge thank you to the staff, partly as an aide memoir for my dotage, but also as a request, from us to you.

If you have enjoyed reading my blog, would you consider giving a donation to this amazing organization? It will provide extras for the pupils and be a sign of how grateful we are, that somewhere in the Staffordshire Moorlands,children will be singing songs while working on coordination while we move on to the next stage.

Let me introduce you to a place that feels like heaven and home all rolled into one.

The school mission is  “Working together, achieving potential” At last a place where parents are treated as partners, and even have a room with comfortable sofas to meet in!

The logo on the shirts, one hand helping another smaller hand.

When we first arrived they had school donkeys. Yes really. If you are a parent you will be familiar with the forms you need to fill in as school starts.

One of ours “Do you give permission for your child to groom, feed and ride the donkeys?

Well yes!

And finally (and this sums up everything I love about it), at the end of Assembly, not “The Golden Cockerel” (my 70’s school hymn) or “Colours of Day” (Mr PJ’s) but “Reach for the Stars” by S club 7.

Nuff said.

‘We’ve got to all stick together
Good friends, there for each other
Never ever forget that
I’ve got you and you’ve got me,

So reach for the stars !

Please consider giving something,however small.What a wonderful goodbye present that would be!

You can donate here