Not Stupid (18 page)

I was invited to attend the opening when Virginia paid a visit to Hillingdon Manor after watching a documentary about us on television. She generously donated some money to the school and has since kept in contact with us. At the opening of the TreeHouse Trust School I once again met Cherie Blair. I was surprised she remembered me from the awards ceremony in Kent but she was interested to hear how things had been going for us.

The TreeHouse Trust School had been set up on a temporary site, and, at the time of going to print, a replacement school is being built at a cost, I believe, of around
£
10,000,000, which will be partly funded by the government and the rest by the TreeHouse Trust. I can’t help thinking we could have opened five or six more schools like Hillingdon Manor for that sort of money.

We often see headlines in newspapers saying things like ‘This is the cure for autism!’ or ‘This is the best thing for autism’. If only it were that easy! I have to say, I feel many of the stories offered to newspapers are from people whose real intention is to make as much money as possible from parents who are at the end of their tether as they struggle to cope with their autistic children. Let’s face it, there’s no magic wand. The most appropriate and effective approach is for parents and teachers
to work together in a consistent manner. We’ve seen at firsthand how effective this approach can be.

I’m happy to say our Upper School has gone from strength to strength. One thing we’ve noticed is that, when all the students get together, it’s clear how well they have matured into young men or young ladies. It now has 28 students, the majority of whom have graduated from Hillingdon Manor. The students study at the Upper School until they reach the age of 19, and then, if they are capable, they can graduate to West Middlesex College or a mainstream college. Although it’s still early days, to date three students have already done so, while others have moved on to mainstream colleges. It’s so rewarding to observe their progress and it really thrills me and fills me with pride as much as anything else – if not more so.

At present we have students from 15 different local education authorities, including Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, attending our centres. Taking care of their needs, we now have a hundred staff working at the residential home, the college and the schools.

A
fter identifying the need for students who require more intensive support in communication skills, we established an intensive-communication life-skills residence – a converted Portakabin – in the grounds of Hillingdon Manor. This facility has a bathroom, a bedroom, a kitchen and a lounge, where the students can live semi-independently – which fits into my plan of plugging the holes many sufferers of autism face as they go through life.

The classes here have a high adult-to-pupil ratio, providing both one-to-one and group teaching that promotes individualised teaching and learning styles to meet the specific special educational needs of every student. All teaching and learning practices optimise the student’s ability to increase their knowledge and skills. In addition, opportunities are given to practise and generalise these skills in a variety of meaningful contexts and environments within and outside the school.

Teaching is multisensory and communication-centred, which
creates opportunities to ensure learning, progress and independence in settings meaningful to the students, who also have the opportunity to gain ASDAN (Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network)-accredited qualifications.

In October 2006, as our reputation for excellence spread, we felt the need to expand the Upper School, as it was already approaching full capacity. For that reason it was decided to purchase another property known as The Lawns, which is set in the grounds of Hillingdon Manor. The plan was to use The Lawns as a facility for students aged between 16 and 19, and the intention had been to convert the building to cater for 28 students.

You could be forgiven for thinking that, after we’d got Hillingdon Manor up and running, everything that has been achieved since then has been plain sailing and that our businesses have blossomed and almost run themselves. But, unfortunately, trouble was on the horizon as we began to look into ways of financing The Lawns and the following months were as stressful for Sean and me as any we had experienced before.

The problems began when we realised we couldn’t afford to buy The Lawns without outside financial backing. Originally the property had been on offer for
£
920,000. We could have just about scraped the money together but it would have left us short the following January with reference to VAT and corporation tax. For this reason the directors and shareholders agreed we couldn’t do it on our own and decided we should contact other service providers to assist us.

After initial investigations, we were contacted by two other
specialist providers who expressed an interest in buying Hillingdon Manor. This led to a prolonged period during which the directors were trying to decide which would be the best group to align with. If we were to go with the first group, they would have wanted to buy us out. That would have meant I would no longer be a director or a shareholder, I’d just be working for them – but I didn’t want to give away all we’d worked so hard for.

My preference was to go with the second group, who said we could buy up to 20 per cent of the shares and I would remain a director of the company. That, sadly, is where the conflict between Sean and I and the board of directors began. Three of the directors/shareholders, who wanted to retire, were keen to go with the first group but I had no intention of going down that route at all. They could have offered me a job worth
£
2 million and I still wouldn’t have been interested! I felt we had an awful lot going for us at Hillingdon Manor and that we were something really special – I didn’t want to see us becoming part of a huge anonymous group. We’re a specialist provision, and that’s how we should stay.

Nevertheless, I found myself being strongly urged to go with this group and to take the job offered to me and to work my way up in the new company. Maybe I could even work my way up to a directorship in the future, they suggested. The directors were telling me they wanted to do what’s best for the children – and that of course would be paramount – but did they really think I didn’t want the same thing?

Of course, whichever choice would eventually be made, I knew I would still want to be involved, but, then again, I knew
it just wouldn’t be the same. I wanted to remain a director, and to extend the board of directors. Sean, on the other hand, didn’t want to be a director but preferred to help out in the areas of education law and legislation.

I felt that by going with the second group we would have more chance of staying special because this particular group didn’t have any schools at all for children with autism, although they have expertise with children with emotional behavioural disorders. This group wanted to set up a separate company and to use our school as a template, and that appealed to me far more because what we are doing at Hillingdon Manor could then be replicated up and down the country.

The two choices caused considerable conflict between the directors, with me out on a limb battling against the first offer. This resulted in some directors accusing me of being selfish, which, naturally, caused me a lot of hurt, upset and extra stress. I was at an incredibly low ebb and my spirits were hardly lifted when we received some anonymous letters – some of which contained some very unpleasant comments about Sean.

I was livid and felt Sean had been really badly let down by some people in the way they treated him. Some of the horrible things said against him caused unbelievable stress to us all as a family and it’s something I would never, ever want to live through again. Matters became so unbearable I truly began to feel I was beginning to lose my faith in people and, although I’d never had a panic attack before, within two months I had two: awful tight feelings across my chest and a frightening inability to breathe.

The pressure was immense and I even began to doubt myself.
I lost an awful lot of faith in some people as our family life became almost intolerable. Coral, however, was a mountain of moral support and backed Sean and me to the hilt. How I wished I had the money to buy the other shareholders out to put an end to all this hostility.

Then, in June 2007, the waters were further muddied when a third provider also expressed an interest in buying us out – it was as if we had a for sale sign at the front of the school. This further added to my stress. I was finding the whole situation particularly hard to cope with and was frequently feeling sick to my stomach.

The staff were also becoming unsettled by rumours and counter-rumours floating around the school. Something needed to be done quickly to put minds at rest. After a meeting among the board of directors to try to thrash out our differences, a meeting with the staff was arranged at which I explained to them the need for our company to acquire more capital if we were to purchase The Lawns and be able to refurbish and staff it to an adequate level. Quite simply, we had outgrown our existing facilities.

I told the staff why we needed to attract outside investment towards this goal. We had looked at our businesses carefully and asked ourselves, Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How are we going to get there? We had looked at employing the skills of a consultant or possibly employing an experienced non-executive director who could provide regular impartial assessments of what we had been doing. Another option had been to use a management consultant to help us identify how best we could strengthen or change our management structure.

I then informed the staff of the two educational and
care-service
providers actively expressing an interest in amalgamating with our businesses. Putting aside my own misgivings, I told the staff that these options would not only allow for future development but would also help create cross training between the schools, improve resources, increase and improve our reputation, improve on morale, improve on staff development and opportunities for advancement and, finally, extend the board of directors.

We had already spoken to key staff working for the service providers who had expressed an interest in amalgamating with us and found them to be most helpful and with a good understanding of the autistic-spectrum disorder.

After my speech I was heartened by the support of the staff. Several of them came up to me and gave me a hug, and told me they realised how difficult all that had been happening must have been for us as a family. I became quite emotional and told them of my concerns for children like Angelo, who were in the intensive life-skills and communication classes. After the age of 19, there was nothing in the borough for them and that’s why I felt we needed to press on and set up a life-skills centre that would complement the work done at West Middlesex College.

I know that, on reaching 19, Angelo will not be able to live at home because his needs are so complex. He, and others like him, will need to become more independent, but suitable specialist residential homes are non-existent in the borough. In fact, they are miles away. We needed to choose the most suitable service provider that would allow us to make this happen more quickly.

Of course, rumours of unrest were bound to filter down to the parents, who became most concerned at how things might develop. Some were very upset and didn’t want us to sell out to anybody. Basically, they just wanted things to carry on as they were. In their eyes, if something isn’t broken, why fix it? One mother even approached me in the playground and told me that I should not believe any rumours that she had started up a parent action group. I told her it was all news to me, yet, in the light of this, I realised we needed to call a further meeting to reassure the parents that Hillingdon Manor did indeed have a future.

And so it was that the parents gathered to hear about the recent developments. I explained how the meeting was intended to allay their fears and to assure them of everyone’s desire to expand the services on offer – not as some had feared, to break up all that had been accomplished.

We had every intention of attracting and retaining quality staff to ensure quality and good practice; we intended to purchase The Lawns, and Portakabins would be leased and placed on the school’s site to enhance the provision of
intensive-communication
life skills.

That said, I outlined the difficulties facing small specialist schools such as Hillingdon Manor. We had little opportunity to make extra money outside of that generated by fees. Maintenance and expansion plans would be limited without the extra finances an amalgamation would generate. I tried to reassure the parents that, whichever the choice of service provider partnership, Hillingdon Manor did have a good future.

Like me, parents liked the homely atmosphere, the good staff–pupil ratio and the feeling that the children are known
individually to staff and are valued; that our staff were loyal and dedicated, always willing to go the extra mile, and that they enjoyed teaching our children and that this individualism was our unique selling point. The staff are passionate about the special education our pupils need and feel them to be part of an extended family. Whatever happened, this would not change. Then I promised all present that we would advise them of any developments just as soon as practicable.

Afterwards, some parents came to see me and told me how pleased they were that I was digging my heels in and encouraged me to continue to do so. I was so reassured when they told me things would never be the same if I were to leave. They wanted to continue to be able to see me every day, and for me to carry on giving their children dancing classes. I was so touched by their support.

Later I spoke to Esther Rantzen about the situation and, fortunately, she too was right behind us, telling us we shouldn’t throw away all we’d achieved. Then Patrick, realising something was going on, asked me to explain what had been upsetting us so much, so, in simple terms I did, and asked him what he thought I should do. ‘You should carry on doing what you’ve been doing, Mum,’ he said. ‘Don’t let anybody else tell you differently.’

We knew we faced a big, big decision within a few weeks if we were going to succeed in buying The Lawns because the LEA had been asking whether or not we had the provision in place and we needed to acquire the necessary planning permission from Hillingdon Borough Council. We’d already assessed 33 more children, so we knew we must expand – and
quickly – and we were constantly being asked by parents of prospective pupils whether or not we’d got planning permission for The Lawns in place.

Planning permission was eventually secured, despite one objection, and I have to say that Dave and Alex played instrumental parts in gaining approval. That’s their bag, planning and maintenance; they’re particularly good at that sort of thing. However, our joy was almost immediately tempered by the news that we’d been gazumped: if we still wanted to buy The Lawns the asking price was now a cool
£
1 million! This would mean that a further
£
20,000 would need to be added to the already steep deposit and this was money we had earmarked for the refit of the science laboratory, domestic science kitchen, new toilets, IT facilities and fencing, among other things. I was absolutely fuming!

Further meetings between the directors and shareholders, although lively and stressful, eventually saw an agreement reached between us all. We would probably amalgamate with the second service provider after all. This, we concluded, would be the best way forward for the school and its associated facilities. I was left to comfort myself with the thought that at least I would still be in a position of some influence over the running of the school, albeit to a lesser degree than before.

At the same time were very aware that the children and young adults at our establishments are special and vulnerable individuals and I and the other directors owed it to them to ensure that their future would be safe and secure with us. Of course the successful conclusion of the sale would be subject to
us obtaining a number of reassurances from the consortium. In fact, as we write, that is where we stand.

All this aside, our problems were far from over. Suddenly, we discovered the asking price for The Lawns had spiralled by yet a further
£
100,000; then our human-resources manager, Kevin Mullally, noticed some men in suits wandering around The Lawns. ‘Are you looking to buy it, too?’ he asked and was gobsmacked when he was informed they already had – and that they had exchanged contracts for the property a month before!