I took our daughter, Maia, to the
New Forest Small School in February of 2005. Up until this point she’d
been at a local village school – full of good activities and energy
but failing her badly in it’s own understanding and support of
her dyslexia learning difficulties. Emotionally she’d been beaten
down and crushed by large classes and lack of time from her teachers.
In her own words she felt ‘as though she were in a small box with
the lid coming further and further down each day with only a crack of
light left’. She said that ‘when the lid finally closes’
she ‘would die inside herself’. Physical symptoms came with
this – asthma, stabbing chest pains and migraines. And a nine
year old child who would sit on my lap late into the night crying with
little enjoyment of the world around her. Eventually she was only going
into school an average of three days per week.
Knowing there was no way forward in
this system and in desperation, I scanned the Yellow Pages and found
the Small School. Just in time as ‘the lid came down’ and
I took Maia out of her school for the last time. I’d been searching
countrywide for a private school dealing with dyslexic children but
could find nothing close enough for her not to be a weekly boarder.
Her fears were now so great that this was not possible.
She entered The New Forest Small School
with great trepidation but was lulled by the lack of pressure and the
feeling that it was OK ‘to be herself.’. Slowly, she started
to blossom once again and after two months I felt my own daughter had
been returned to me. All the bounce and enthusiasm were hers again and
with it the joy and pride of learning and the confidence to put her
thoughts into words and writing (with a few misspellings of course).
Friendships bloomed and she regained her love of life.
Over one and a half years later she
has not only gained more academic knowledge than she would have done
in a normal school setting, but she has discovered that wonderful thing
– that we all have our idiosyncrasies, but that they are surmountable
given the time and understanding from the right teachers and surroundings.
She can now laugh uproariously at some of her more ‘creative’
spellings. She did wonderfully in her end of term exams and I cannot
fault the great tuition and inspiration provided by Nic, Ali, Clara,
Claire and the team at the NFSS.
Maia has just started at Priestlands
Comprehensive – a huge leap to a school of 1,200 pupils. I was
more fearful than she, but two weeks in and with her new found confidence,
she is relishing the challenges and loving the chance to experience
a world that would have otherwise been closed to her. She is academically
now on a par with, or above, her peers.
Should her school world ever head back
to that sad and dimly lit space, I will remove her once again –
I only hope that by that time the NFSS has been able to expand and have
classes for this next generation. I would recommend the school to any
parent who believes that their child deserves individual respect and
a chance to learn in an inspired, caring and insightful environment.
We owe so much to the NFSS and an eternal
Thank you to everyone there.
Fiona Williams (East
Boldre)