Family Life: Island haven caters for special needs
OVER just two years, Balsall Common housewife Carol Howe and her business partner and friend Jacqui Walters-Hutton have set up, expanded and gained Ofsted praise for their brainchild of a school, the Island Project.
Harborne-born Jacqui, aged 41, and friend Carol came to the same realisation when chatting about Carol’s ultimate wish to see her 10-year-old son David find an appropriate school rather than be isolated with a tutor at home.
But as no school catered for his specialist needs that conversation set the wheels in motion for them to create the independent Island Project School. Going from strength to strength, they have this year moved to larger premises at Diddington Hall, in Meriden.
“We have got a lease on the hall and it is a fantastic building, perfect for our needs, giving us the ability to accept more pupils,” says mother-of-two Carol, 45, who also lives with husband Andrew and 14-year-old daughter Sarah.
“The school started with three pupils at a former Wacky Warehouse, behind the White Horse pub, in Balsall Common, and was all about a future for David being able to learn and mix with other children.
“I worried about how we would cope one day when I wasn’t around.
“The school now has six pupils with many more waiting to come, plus we are extending our age range for five years up to 19 years, instead of seven to 12.”
David was two when doctors diagnosed him with autism and profound communication problems. Now he is successfully taught at the Island Project using pictures.
The two women invested their own savings along with donations to create The Island Project in 2007 with £50,000 set-up costs. They gained praise from Ofsted inspectors within a year for their “outstanding curriculum, personal development of pupils and encouraging ethos”.
“I get phone calls from parents nationwide desperate to find a school like the Island Project and I sympathise with them,” adds Carol.
“This started off as something small and we didn’t know if it would work. It came from there being no suitable school for David, but to think we have managed to build on that and grow so soon shows there is a real need.
“It has been hard and a real learning curve, but thoroughly satisfying.”
