Our son John moved from mainstream education to Collett Special Educational Needs School in Hertfordshire at the end of Year 3 of Primary School and 8 years later, at the age of 16, he leaves this year. Hard to believe I know, but July 2020 also marks my half century, so I thought this might be an opportunity to ask friends and colleagues if they would hold off showering me with gifts (!) and instead consider donating to this wonderful school which has made SO much difference to our lives for nearly a decade. I appreciate we are in the midst of a global pandemic and many people have either had their income reduced or lost it completely, so there is absolutely no pressure to donate. I just wanted to say thank you to the school and all the staff members who have so kindly and patiently supported John through these years.

More info about the school here: Catering for 4-17 year olds, The Collett School is attended by children with moderate learning difficulties from all over Hertfordshire. The children have many syndromes including Down's and 50% have autism. Almost half of the pupils come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, some are in care or fostered and many have parents who have special needs themselves.

The Collett School’s mission is to support the children to grow in confidence and as much independence as possible, allowing them to be part of society and contribute to the community. The school has been required to have more children with complex needs without any additional funding so it always needs support in being able to provide suitable and safe spaces to help achieve its vision of equipping these children to be part of our mainstream world.

Without fundraising and gifts in kind The Collett School would simply not be able to function so thank you for any donations, big or small!