And so we arrive at the very last day of term. I had a read through many of my previous blogs last night and felt quite overwhelmed by the tremendous journey we have taken since this time last year.

I feel extremely proud and very emotional now as we celebrate the end of an extremely successful and eventful year. I hate goodbyes, so this is going to be a brief message (in case you haven’t read my previous blogs, I am retiring at the end of this term).

I would just like to thank the amazing staff team here at Hollinwood Academy who have made it all work and the families who have supported us every step along the way; most of all, I feel absolutely privileged to have had the opportunity to work with our pupils who are a credit to their school and to their families.

I will leave you with just a few of the messages from our families as they have expressed how much the development of our special school has meant to them in this first year:

“Just to say a huge thank you for all your support, energy, love and commitment. You all go above and beyond! Hollinwood Academy really does change lives.” (Finlay’s mum)

“I’m so proud of Tobias and can’t believe how much he has changed since being at Hollinwood Academy. We have no arguments about coming to school, he is learning to cope better when things aren’t going his way and in social situations. He comes out of school happy and he’s made friends.” (Tobias’ mum)

“Hi, I would like to thank you all for your wonderful sports day. From the older pupils doing their intro to the proceedings covering all the nations was so lovely – all the children were doing their own thing dancing or sitting watching – I nearly got up myself to dance it was so infectious! Watching the games brought a tear to my eye, knowing that they were enjoying sports day just like all other schools would have been doing the last few weeks. They all put their hearts and souls into it as you all did. I can’t believe that Jacob did such good sitting, joined in the races and then went back to sit on the mat – he could not have done that this time last year. So thank you for all that you do with him. May you all manage to have some time to yourselves with your families during the summer. Hugs to you all, from Jacob’s nana.”

You can see just how much fun we had at sports day….

There are more photos of the afternoon on Facebook here.

I hope that you all have a lovely summer and I look forward to hearing all about further progress and development in September. I will be keen to read Jaina’s weekly blogs to keep in touch.

Sarah

Click here for this week’s news from Graham

Click here to find all the blog entries from this year