Not Stupid (15 page)

Students from the university played a pivotal role in an innovation to yield spontaneous responses by designing a multisensory interactive ‘wall’ – a piece of textile linked to a computer that will say a word or make a particular sound whenever it is touched. Different textiles produce different sounds and teachers also have the option of recording the sounds and words they want the children to hear. Hillingdon Manor was, in fact, the first school in the United Kingdom to use this device.

Our links with the university remain strong and have proved beneficial to both parties, and the famous scientist Professor Heinz Wolff, who is based at the university, has been a long-term advocate of our projects, frequently helping out with fundraising and helping to raise the awareness of the autistic spectrum.

A BBC television video about us was posted on the internet and was seen by a distinguished psychologist in America who, many years earlier, used to live near Hillingdon. He contacted us and asked if it would be possible to visit the school for a closer look. He duly arrived and claimed to be very impressed with what he had seen. He told us that, in America, they had been trying to include autistic children in mainstream schools while, at the same time, closing some of the specialist schools. That was the last thing they needed to do, he said.

He explained the difficulties teachers had been finding: they
were unable to cope and a lot of autistic children in America were requiring psychotherapy because the educational provision in the mainstream schools was so inappropriate. I suggested we visit America to see, first-hand, how they dealt with education for children with autism in the specialist schools that were still up and running. ‘I wouldn’t bother,’ he said, adding, ‘It would be better if they were to come to this school to see how it should be done!’

Following our visit to the
EastEnders
set, Patrick had become keen on watching the soap on television, particularly the
hard-man
character of Grant Mitchell, played by his favourite actor, Ross Kemp.

Patrick would talk about Ross/Grant all the time – yet another obsession. A friend’s brother often went out with Ross for a drink and told him about Patrick’s obsession. Very kindly, Ross decided to visit the school to meet Patrick and the other children, which was a huge boost to all concerned. I hadn’t realised Ross had a bit of a reputation as a sex symbol, but the rest of the staff did and, while he was chatting to Angela in her office, it was surprising just how many people found a reason to be passing by or to pop in for one reason or another! To be honest, I think the staff were as excited as the children over his visit – if not more so.

While Ross was with Angela I found myself chatting to his agent, who declared himself to be most impressed with what we had managed to achieve and, I believe, it was he who nominated me as Wondermum 2003 in the
Sun
newspaper, edited by Ross’s partner Rebekah Wade. Although there was no ceremony or prize attached to this recognition – which the
newspaper features each Mother’s Day – after the publication of a two-page spread about me and other women considered worthy of the award, the phone hardly stopped ringing with offers of help and support, which were truly appreciated.

Hopefully, the other mothers recognised at the awards received similar support. Among them was a woman who campaigned to save a closure-threatened haematology research unit after her 18-year-old daughter had died of leukaemia, and a mother who developed a natural cure for eczema after witnessing the dreadful side effects of the conventional medications prescribed for her daughter.

Other awards followed. I received the Local Hero Award for Voluntary Endeavour, which was sponsored by the Nationwide Building Society, and, after being nominated as a Hero of London by listeners of the LBC radio station, I won their weekly wine award – an absolutely enormous bottle of Baron Philippe de Rothschild wine and a certificate for my ‘contribution to improving the quality of life for people in London as voted for by the listeners of London News Radio’ – but I don’t drink alcohol! In fact, I hadn’t even been aware I’d been nominated for the award until someone stopped me in the street to tell me. I opened the bottle at the school and shared it out with the staff and we all celebrated together – after all, I couldn’t have done it without them. It was very heartening to think people had taken the trouble to vote for me and I later appeared on the station to thank them all.

Esther Rantzen returned in May 2003 with a camera crew to record a film to be included in her weekly television show, which would form the prelude to a discussion on the arguments
for and against inclusion in mainstream schools of children with special needs. After it was transmitted, I was invited to speak on a BBC Radio 4 programme with a woman who was claiming all special-needs schools should be closed down. Not surprisingly, her argument really annoyed me and I ended up telling her she didn’t know what she was talking about.

A
s the reputation and standing of Hillingdon Manor increased, we realised that we had rapidly outgrown the premises owing to an intake of pupils that now totalled
fifty-three
. Quite simply, as Angela pointed out, the school was no longer large enough to accommodate the number of classrooms required if we were to keep class levels to a maximum of eight children. Not only that, we had a number of pupils aged between four and five mixing with 15- and 16-year-olds. We were determined to continue to provide quality rather than quantity and were aware that, if we were to try to cram too many pupils into Hillingdon Manor, we would be answerable to the Department of Education.

In January 2003 it was decided to look for another property to accommodate the older pupils, in effect an Upper School. This time, the work in founding a new school was shared out among the directors, HACS, and me plus Angela, who, in fact, took the lead, as she was the expert with reference to education
and Ofsted. We asked a local estate agent to look out for a large building that may be suitable for conversion and he came up trumps, pointing us towards a large office building in Church Road in Hayes, not too far from Hillingdon Manor.

The building had stood empty for 15 months, but we liked it as soon as we saw it. It certainly had potential and it had a nice feel to it, although we wished it could have been slightly larger. There was a good-sized shingle-covered area outside, which we considered would be suitable for a play area, and a
reasonably-sized
hall downstairs. What we particularly liked about the property was that it had formerly been used as office space, so we felt it would be easier to emulate the feel of an office environment in the students’ minds.

The office was on the market for
£
930,000 – a huge sum – and, on top of that, we knew we would have to put another considerable amount aside to adapt it for our purposes. We decided to canvas the local residents to establish whether or not any of them would have any objections to the opening of a school for children aged between 12 and 19 with special needs nearby. Thankfully, there were no objections and, after negotiating the price down to
£
850,000, we put our heads together to draw up a finance plan.

Unlike having to start from scratch, as we did with Hillingdon Manor, our plan this time was a little more straightforward: we would use Hillingdon Manor as a guarantee for the loan we required and, once again, Barclays Bank came up trumps. We had earlier created a development fund for special projects and this had helped to keep the loan down to a minimum. Although it was scary to spend such a
large sum of money, this time the burden was shouldered among us all, but at the backs of our minds we knew we would all be liable financially as individuals, should things not go to plan.

Despite all our careful planning, it was an informed gamble on our parts that, once we had successfully acquired the property, we would still need to obtain funding to get the students in, as it would be a gradual process in getting them enrolled. Before any building work could begin we had to write to Ofsted for permission to get our capacity increased and we also had to ensure we had all the required structural plans approved by the council.

There was not an awful lot to do to the building to convert it for use as a school, as it had already been refurbished to a good standard. Over the following few months we spent
£
100,000 bringing the premises up to our specifications. One of the larger expenses was the erection of a long conservatory, which ran along the rear of the premises and would be used as a corridor, eliminating the need for students to walk through one classroom in order to reach another. The large shingled area was covered with tarmac for use as a playground and, while all this work was in progress, Sean got to work setting up all the computers and whiteboards. Again, David Kamsler from the Link charity was instrumental in providing a good number of desks for the new school.

Now we needed more staff. Angela decided we required a new head teacher for the Upper School, reasoning that she couldn’t effectively run Hillingdon Manor and the new one herself. However, she had the perfect candidate in mind: Sean
Pavitt, who had already particularly impressed us all with his work as a teacher and then as the curriculum manager at Hillingdon Manor. As far as we were concerned, Sean would fit the bill perfectly. He is a great teacher and, prior to his appointment at Hillingdon Manor, although he had only recently qualified, he had already undertaken plenty of voluntary work with autistic children and had demonstrated a really nice way of working with them. Sean even met his wife at Hillingdon Manor. Cheryl was working there after attending a placement from Brunel University and then found herself in charge of children at the school who have more complex needs.

It was very pleasing when Sean agreed to accept the post of head teacher at the Upper School and it’s been really lovely to watch him progress over the past few years. Following his appointment, he and Angela liaised to recruit the extra staff required. Sean’s elevation to head teacher meant a
shuffle-round
was required. Pam Sickelmore, who had been Angela’s deputy, stepped up to the role as head teacher at Hillingdon Manor, while Angela assumed the responsibility as the principal of both sites.

The following September, after much hard work by all concerned, the school was ready to accept its first students. I remember a huge feeling of pride and delight as we opened the doors that day, although Patrick, having moved up from Hillingdon Manor School, was a little apprehensive. He’d got used to life there but, after his first day at the Upper School, he declared he had really liked his new surroundings. I was very
pleased because, even for a mainstream school pupil, moving from one school to another can be a very traumatic experience – and it’s always going to be a far more difficult move for a child on the autistic spectrum.

I could hardly believe how far we’d come. Opening another school had proved beyond any doubt that there was a demand for what we had set out to do. Because of the huge amount of referrals, and the desperation of parents whose children were struggling to cope in mainstream schools, Hillingdon Manor had rapidly outgrown its capacity and this was the only logical step we could have taken. Several of the pupils walking into the Upper School that morning had graduated from Hillingdon Manor; the others were new referrals.

The first day went pretty smoothly. The decision to adopt the same ethos as at Hillingdon Manor was a straightforward one, and obviously helped the students through this transitional phase in their education – they knew from the start how things worked and what was expected of them.

Again, Esther Rantzen returned, this time to perform the official opening of the Upper School on 6 February, 2001, and she was thrilled to see the progress of some of the children she had first met at Hillingdon Manor. Esther was generous in her praise, as was our MP, John Randall, who wrote the following article in his weekly column in the
Uxbridge Gazette
after touring the premises.

I was thrilled to read John’s ringing endorsement and made a point of telling the staff that he was right: we had all contributed to something to be proud of. I photocopied his article and sent it to all the parents, and I still have a copy of it on the wall of my office.

Our aim at the Upper School is to teach the students more about their autism or Asperger Syndrome and to prepare them for a life in the workplace. That, of course, is easier said than done, as, according to Carol Povey, from the National Autistic Society, 49 per cent of adults suffering from autism (how I hate that phrase – how does one know they are ‘suffering’ when they
are not in pain?) are at home without employment and just 15 per cent have employment.

Nevertheless, at the Upper School, students are encouraged to study for GCSEs, while others may study for GNVQs or the accredited Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN) courses, which offer approved programmes and qualifications to develop key skills and life skills.

One day a week is set aside for a healthy-eating day, when students, under supervision, are given the opportunity to prepare fresh fruit and vegetables, and then to present it appropriately to other pupils and staff.

Students are given many opportunities to practise what they learn in the school setting in the world outside school. This is achieved through involvement with the immediate community around the school, work experience locally, the use of local sports facilities, and involvement with mainstream peers in the local comprehensive school. Then, if the students reach a specific level of ability in dealing with mainstream situations, they have the opportunity to reintegrate and study at the local comprehensive school.

In 2004, four years after we’d opened the original West Middlesex College and residential home at the Eastcote site, we had to close them both down because the council ruled that the site where they stood was to be returned to green belt land. We had known all along that this would happen, but had successfully put off our eviction from the site on a number of occasions in a bid to buy time. The buildings would now be demolished so people could wander around
there and walk their dogs. It was a significant setback and I was gutted.

We needed to find somewhere else as soon as possible. Through an estate agent, we found Colne Lodge, a big office building that had stood empty for some time on an industrial estate, and we made plans to transfer the West Middlesex College facilities into it. A
£
40,000 lease for ten years was secured with the right to buy after that period. The location, unfortunately, was not the most attractive, but it suited our needs. That said, I’d still love to be able to pick it up and put it somewhere else.

First of all we needed to secure approval for change of use and planning permission. Our efforts to secure the property saw us in competition with a group of people wanting the premises for use as a Buddhist centre, but we prevailed in the end.

The new college opened its doors for students for the first time in February 2006. Now it has a large room downstairs, which is used for large social events, and upstairs are the classrooms, which include an ICT suite; a wellbeing room, where students can go if they feel they need some quiet time to destress and listen to music; and a staffroom, which offers a lovely view over the river Colne.

To ensure the needs of each applicant are met, strict admission criteria have to be followed. Successful applicants will be funded by the Learning and Skills Council. They will have a diagnosis of autism or Asperger Syndrome and have abilities between moderate learning difficulties and university entrance. They must have the potential and ambition to study and work in a mainstream environment and have the desire and determination to function as an independent adult.

Our mission at the college is to ensure we enable adults with an autistic-spectrum disorder to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that will enable them to achieve as fulfilled, meaningful and independent a life as possible through the provision of a high-quality, stimulating and personalised education programme that meets their needs and interests.

Basically, we are aiming to improve their quality of life and to promote a better understanding of autistic-spectrum disorders and we believe this can be achieved by the implementation of individual learning plans with a multidisciplinary approach.

Because there is always the highest regard for the safety of students and staff, those who exhibit physically challenging behaviour are not accepted at the college. However, we have the means to assess the behaviour of potential students through programmes that have been designed to empower the student to manage specific behaviours. The establishment of
non-challenging
alternatives is of great importance.

The principal, staff and, when required, the consultant psychologist work together to produce effective
behaviour-management
plans. Naturally, all plans are instigated with the full cooperation of the student. All staff receive ongoing training in the delivery of behaviour-management plans.

Parent and/or carer involvement is encouraged. The staff aim to establish a collaboration in order to share expertise and generalise a student’s new skills. Educational workshops are run and college open days held. There is regular communication between the college and the parents/carers, who are also encouraged to participate in college events and celebrations.

As with Hillingdon Manor and the Upper School, parents/carers and staff liaise to plan optimal educational programmes, to assess progress accurately, to formulate individual learning plans and to conduct home visits.

The staff team at the college are particularly empathetic to the needs of the students and their families. All are professionally qualified and experienced, and more than 45 per cent of them have experience of dealing with the challenges of autism in their personal lives which, obviously, is of great benefit to the students.