Breckenbrough School

Following the model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need, every student arrives at Breckenbrough seeking a safe, nurturing environment where they can be accepted and learn. Due to their adverse experiences in prior settings, our first goal is to reduce anxiety levels and for every student to feel safe and secure in the school environment. It is unreasonable to expect any progress until this has been achieved, especially with their academic studies. Every student progresses through the school seeking to achieve what Maslow terms as self-actualisation, which is essential in achieving the second key goal. As a student progresses upwards through the levels of Maslow, there is a parallel increase in engagement, learning and progress. In order to achieve this, high staff to student ratios are required with class sizes of no more than five students.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support you have given my son. Being excluded in Year 7 was unbearable for a boy who loved to learn and he was at a low point when he started. Words just can’t express enough how grateful I am for all the help he has had from all the staff from the start. There are too many names to mention.

All we hoped for at first was for him to have a place he could go and continue his studies and hopefully have a chance for him to get some GCSE qualifications. To have him in the position he is in today with 2 A star grades at A level so far and an unconditional offer for Manchester University for his final A level and a possibility for a place in Oxford is more than we could have ever hoped for and we will be forever grateful.

It’s more than that though, Breckenbrough allowed him the space to accept his Autism diagnosis and move on to be the happy boy with friends he is today.

My son is a bright, articulate boy who has a diagnosis of Asperger’s and Dyspraxia, he exhibited high levels of anxiety when attending Mainstream School. Despite this his needs were neither acknowledged nor met by his Primary School or our LEA resulting in a disastrous transition to Secondary School.  He required substantial CAMHS intervention to enable him to cope with his anxiety and extremely low self-esteem.

Despite his obvious ability our LEA suggested Special Schools that were suitable for less able students. I knew if I allowed my son to enrol at any of these schools he would fail to attend and end up with serious long term mental health issues.  I trawled the Internet desperately looking for the School that could offer an answer, I found it in Breckenbrough. I will never forget my excitement when I read the parents reviews, it was like I was reading about my son, everything I read made me think this School was developed with my own child in mind, it was too good to be true. I tried to be realistic and prepare myself to be disappointed when I made my first visit to the School, I was constantly trying to find fault. My high expectations were totally exceeded, Breckenbrough was everything I had hoped for and much more I just knew it was right for my son. It is so much more than a School, it is difficult to put into words but tangible when you visit. It is obvious that the boys are the top priority from the minute you walk in the door, their quirks and behaviours are tolerated and managed in a caring, supportive and compassionate way.