Richard Allen and Joe Sparks, co-head teachers at the Green Room School, Windsor attended the Forum to give an insight into how their school worked and how their approach to schooling had been successful. They wanted the Borough to know they were not in competition with any of the Council’s schools but rather, they wanted to work with and collaborate with schools to help pupils remain in mainstream school and access mainstream education.

Joe Sparks explained that the Green Room School was a different type of school and that they were very good at what they did. He stated the school was dedicated to giving children that had either been excluded from school or who refused to attend mainstream school, a chance at receiving an education that they otherwise would not have received. He added that he believed in mainstream education and he had given a lot of talks to schools which explained it was a mistake to try and make all children the same and that it was ok to be different; head teachers that worked with the Green Room would ask them for advice.

Compared to other special schools, the Green Room was cheaper and the more children they could take on, the cheaper the service would get. The Local Authority provided funding for the school when it was already too late and Joe explained he could help the Council spend funding better and more cost effectively by working with the Green Room.

Joe gave a description of the work they did at the Green Room which included the following key points:

Ø  The school concentrated on three main areas which were: social, therapeutic and educational.

Ø  The school had an onsite therapist which was very important as CAMHS were struggling to meet demand and their service was overstretched.

Ø  It often took 18 months or longer to get a diagnosis from CAMHS, whereas the Green Room embraced everything with or without a diagnosis.

Ø  The therapeutic offer in mainstream schools was not good enough and the Green Room was there when things went wrong and then they would get children back into their lessons.

Ø  The Green Room took on family and friends in helping children access education.

Ø  In terms of working academically, they had a bow with a low attendance record. The Green Room approach was to get him into lessons, so when he came into school, the Green Room got him into therapy.

Ø  They had one simple rule and that was the children have to want to be there; that was the whole point.

The Chairman stated the Borough had sent some of its pupils to the Green Room School. Joe confirmed they were at full capacity and there was a waiting list. He added they had opened an outreach service but, it would not work as the purpose was to get children into school. There were two children at their school they felt they should never have met but things had gone wrong in mainstream school and the Green Room worked with them when it was too late.

Joe Sparks confirmed that the Borough’s schools did do a fantastic job but, there were some children that were unable to do mainstream school. That should not be a problem but, he could not understand why staying in mainstream schools was seen as a reward. The children that used the Green room School did not use their circumstances as an excuse; children saw them as an opportunity to make changes for themselves.

Councillor E Wilson stated he had watched the Green Room develop and always thought it needed to be bigger. He felt the situation had been almost forcing people into a room with the co-heads from the Green Room and not a lot of collaborative conversation had taken place. Cllr Wilson felt it was a conversation that had to happen. Richard Allen confirmed the Green Room did have a plan and that there had been a lot of interest from Surrey Council in the way they taught their pupils at the Green Room. They had a specific way of staffing and they wanted teachers who were disillusioned with the current education system but not with teaching. The Green Room used dogs and they would like to have a farm setting and that would be used along side the traditional academic methods. The Chairman stated he would like to address funding issues with the Green Room. Councillor Mills stated she was on the committee for a couple of youth clubs and it had only been in recent years the committees had been able to deal with self-esteem and anger issues. Joe Sparks commented the youth workers in Windsor and Maidenhead were the best he had seen.

v  Action: Kevin McDaniel, Head of Schools and Educational Services to add the Green Room School’s plan to the forward plan.

Email contact details for the Green Room – info@thegreenroomschool.com