19/07/2026
The last few days of term gave us the chance to celebrate everything we’ve done this year and everything we’ve become together, as our Directors shared in their Celebration Day speech:
“In November 2023 we started with 4 young people, 4 stories, 4 reasons to believe that education could be different. We stood with an idea that many thought impossible. That healing belongs in education, that children learn best when they feel safe and that relationships are not the reward for learning, they are where learning begins.
So we started, not with certainty, but with courage and today, 3 years later, 22 young people call this school their own.
With every new arrival came new friendships, new challenges, new learning and new opportunities for us all to grow together. We’ve learnt to bend without breaking and to grow without losing who we are, because growth is never tidy.
This place has become more than a school, it has become our foundation, our safe place, our home. People often ask what makes us different, and it isn’t simply that we learn outdoors or that we’re therapeutic or that we’re independent. It is that everything begins with connection because before a child can believe in algebra, they need someone to believe in them.
This year, our students achieved GCSEs in core subjects, not because expectations were lowered, but because belief was raised. They earned Duke of Edinburgh awards, carrying each other; finding resilience they never knew they possessed. But this year has also been about quieter victories, the ones that don’t come with certificates. The friendships that have been formed where once there was isolation, attendance that has grown because school has become a place our young people want to be, and students who once struggled to find the words are able to communicate their needs and advocate for themselves. Young people who arrived carrying self-doubt are beginning to discover acceptance, not just from others, but from within themselves. These are the achievements that no league table can measure, and they won’t always appear on a report. But they change lives.”
As another chapter closes, we wish our East Hall community a wonderful summer.
