‘WE HAVE PUPILS WHO HAVE BEEN LET DOWN BY ADULTS MANY TIMES... IT’S GREAT TO SEE THEM CHANGE IN OUR CARE’
WHEN Katherine’s son was restrained more than 20 times one day at his primary, she decided to take him out, even though he had no other school to go to.
Her adopted little boy suffered anxiety caused by childhood trauma and had a one-to-one to help in class, but eventually he “wasn’t safe in school” she said.
The strain of being constantly rung up and asked to take him home meant she had to leave her job and her marriage suffered.
Katherine, who we are not identifying to protect her son, was desperate for help.
“There was lots of input by the school but they could not understand his behaviour,” she said.
“He was being restrained a more than 20 times one day.”
Katherine organised a safeguarding review, but said her son was “so traumatised” that he was only going to school one hour a day.
He didn’t learn anything in that hour, couldn’t make friends and didn’t trust anyone.
She said: “The school tried their best but didn’t have the expertise to support him. It wasn’t safe so I decided not to take him back.”
Three years on he is a changed boy. He’s calmer at home, learning and happy to go to school full time.
His favourite subjects include English and music and he is articulate and bright.
It’s a situation Katherine and her husband, a teacher himself, could not have imagined before he got a place at Headlands in Penarth, an independent special school run by the charity Action for Children.
Katherine’s husband says the change in their son is “miraculous” and has encouraged him to change his own approach to teaching.
Headlands takes pupils aged seven to 19 with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, challenging behaviour and autistic spectrum disorders.
It is so good at what it does that it has been asked to duplicate its model elsewhere - a request principal Matt Burns has turned down.
Former PE teacher Matt, from Cardiff, says he and his staff have created a community and that’s its unique strength.
“Everything is centred on quality of relationships,” Matt explains.
“A lot of schools talk about independence, but but we believe in inter-dependence, doing things together and relying on each other.”
Visiting Headlands, it’s clear it’s more than a school. There is a mini farm with alpacas, goats, bee hives and poultry, a zero-waste cafe and bike repair shop run by children.
There are classrooms and teaching follows the curriculum, but this is a community first, say staff.
No one can learn unless they feel valued and a sense of safety and belonging, they point out.
Pupils have a wide range of needs often relating to trauma and adversity and all have either a statement of special educational need or an Education health and care plan.
All but one of last year’s seven leavers went on to college or training.
Some former students have also gone on to university, rugby scholarships and apprenticeships, with one lot, returning recently as a teaching assistant.
They all arrive here after mainstream schools could not meet their needs. Placements are paid for by local councils.
Currently, children come from 17 local authority areas across Wales and the south west of England.
“Headlands gets that children with troubled backgrounds aren’t doing things because they are naughty,” says Katherine.
“As soon as our son started in September 2020 it was full time and I have not had a day when they have had to call me.”
This is easier to achieve when her son is in a class of just six children with two adults.
But it’s also the training and ethos that helps - Katherine says all of the staff make an effort to get to know the children and their families.
Lizzie Bennett, a teacher at Headlands for 10 years, has a class of 11 to 14-year-olds.
She believes in mainstream school “there is a danger of some children getting lost”.
“Relationships are the arch of everything we do here. We are carers and know the children well, that’s what our success depends on,” she says.
“I have seven children in my class. You have to build relationships to let them trust you.
“We are so involved in our children’s lives and that’s what enables us to do our jobs here.
“Their experience prior to coming here is that they are not valuable they learn they are valuable here.
“One ex-pupil visited last week. He is a plumber now - that was so lovely.”
Robin Hackett, head of upper school, points out the many options for pupils, some of which were their own ideas.
As well as lessons, they can work in the repair shop looking after the school’s fleet of bikes and also mend bikes for the public - all checked by their teacher.
There’s a pupil-run radio station, which broadcasts in the school, a recording studio and even a workshop to make guitars and ukuleles.
In classes, pupils stay with one teacher in one room rather than moving around, and specialist teachers come in for English and maths. Some older pupils go to local schools and colleges for GCSE or A-level subjects not on offer at Headlands.
Tom Lewis, Headlands’ post-16 PE teacher, worked in mainstream schools for two years before arriving here seven years ago.
He says mainstream school has different approaches and pressures.
“Here we have small class sizes, flexibility and freedom to support what’s going on for learners. If we have to pause a lesson or change what we are doing we will.