Isaac Education help

Isaac is a bright, creative and sociable fourteen year old. He has been at his current school since he was three and up until a couple of years ago he was thriving academically. He has, however, always struggled with certain aspects of attention in the classroom. As his teen years have developed (and definitely compounded by the lockdowns), his difficulties with focus, attention and overwhelm have become much more apparent. His current school is a small school but it has become crystal clear Isaac cannot stay here any longer. He needs a fresh start and this school, quite simply, cannot meet his needs. He has developed fairly intense anxiety and low self-esteem about being there to the point that he hasn’t been back since before half term. He also, like other children, couldn’t engage with online learning and so has now missed a year of school. This is a very vulnerable time in his life, I feel like all the difficulties he has had through his life are surfacing and it feels absolutely imperative that I do all that I can to get him into the right environment before he slips down a not-so-healthy path.

Here are some words from Isaac’s teacher at the school he has just left:

“I’ve taught Isaac for the last three years as his Class Teacher and have found him to be a creative, able, intelligent student who needs a settled and calm school environment for these attributes to shine through. Isaac struggles to focus and hold his attention to a task despite being highly competent in most aspects of his learning. His confidence is often low and he would benefit from an environment such as TOPS where student well being is prioritised. Isaac was negatively impacted by the lockdown and has found it hard to reintegrate into a formal learning environment and a smaller class size and more intimate school would be the best environment for him to thrive in.

He has so much to offer and is a gifted student. He has the tendency to not always make the healthiest choices for himself and I am concerned that if he is not enthused by his learning environment he could easily switch off and find himself on a path that won’t best serve him.

I would love to see him go on to succeed in his life endeavours and feel that TOPS would be the best school for him to do this.”

Now we are in a position where we are looking for a new school for him in September. Our first plan was for him to go to our local secondary school but unfortunately his year is full with a long waiting list. I also now doubt he could cope with the huge classes sizes.

So Isaac has had trials at a couple of small local private schools, one of which (Totnes Progressive School) he feels completely at home in. I haven’t seen him this enthusiastic about something in a long time. He loved the teachers, the lessons, the feeling of care among the school in general and the small class sizes where he felt he would be able to focus better and hence, learn well.

TPS has an inbuilt philosophy called ‘LARS’ which creates a lot of care for their students. It stands for:

Love - We should treat others as we would like to be treated.

Acceptance - Celebrating difference and being open to change.

Respect - We should feel a sense of worth and help others to find their worth.

Safety - We should always behave in a way that keeps each other emotionally and physically safe.

The teachers really work hard with this with the students and if a child is struggling they really listen to the parents and work together to find solutions on how to move forwards. They really treat the children with respect and

‘happiness and wellbeing’ sessions are central to their learning. They are also always looking for new ways to explore and teach topics relevant to todays’ world. They have classes of no more than 12 as they say it is the optimum number to learn and get enough support- this is vital to Isaac with his focusing struggles. It is also a really creative school which again, is paramount for Isaac.

Here is a little bit about what Isaac has to say about Totnes Progressive School:

“ I would love to go to TPS because it is the right learning environment for me. I don’t often feel relaxed at school but I did at TPS. It is such a friendly place and I loved the small class sizes, it really helped me focus. I didn’t feel anxious there as the teachers and pupils made me feel like they wanted to help me.”

So now begins the task of trying to raise the excess money I cannot pay towards the fees there. For those of you who don’t know, I am a lone parent of two boys and without going into the whole story, I have bought them up from a very young age both physically and completely financially on my own. My family have also not been in a position to assist either (Please message me if you want more information). It’s been really tough and the effect of the stress of this is really making itself shown now my boys are teenagers. Many of you will know me as someone from a solid, stable family but sadly this is far from what my children have experienced in their lives. Of course, I have done my best, but it was never going to be fool-proof under the circumstances and I now see the very strong need for them to be in the school environment that suits them best so they can be mentored positively and healthily through the teen years. I can pay some of the fees at TPS but certainly not all.

I am writing this in the hope that I can convey my message about Isy’s need to go to a particular school well enough to rouse some feeling of wanting to support him in some of you. I realise some will not think it a worthy enough cause, some may even think me rude and presumptous but what can we do other than try our hardest to give our children the best we can offer them, the thing that would make a positive impact to their experience of life and education? This has been really hard to write and it has put me right out of my comfort-zone so I send this knowing it will be met by differing opinions but with an open heart to what may be achieved in the process.

Crowdfunding is about lots of people putting what they can comfortably afford into a collective pot to help achieve the dream of and make the world of difference to one person or cause. I send this out really, really hoping enough people feel touched by Isaac’s story so together bv we can help him achieve his dream.

Thank you,

With love and gratitude,

Charlotte and Isaac