Headteacher Shivaun praises “life changing” funding for specialist equipment
Funding to buy accessible equipment has been “life changing” for students at Sherbourne Fields School in Coventry, says headteacher Shivaun.
With support from Tobbells funding, Sherbourne Fields has bought specialist equipment including portable hoists and large tents. This has allowed the school to open up the DofE to all its students.
Sherbourne Fields is a school for young people with additional needs from nursery through to post-16. It has been offering the DofE for 10 years, running Bronze and Silver with key stage four and five.
Shivaun says: “Having specialist equipment allows our students to fully access the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Without it, we weren’t able to open this programme up to all our young people.”
“Gaining funding to support us to purchase accessible equipment has been life changing for many, many of our young people.”
“Without the funding, those opportunities would have been missed. Those young people wouldn’t have experienced and learned the things that they have. So, it’s just been vital.”
“Young people can do anything”
By providing access to the Expedition section, the headteacher says they now have an opportunity for students to bring together all the skills they’ve been learning throughout the programme.
This is why purchasing specialist equipment to support students to access the expedition was never a question for staff at Sherbourne Fields, and Tobbells funding played an important role in this.
As Shivaun says: “These young people can do anything with the right resource and the right equipment.”
“I like to prove to the world out there what these young people are capable of.
“They’re incredible, they’re amazing, they’re wonderful. What they achieve is astonishing.”
DofE develops confidence and independence
A big part of delivering the programme at Sherbourne Fields is taking a step back and watching the young people independently learn how to do something.
Shivaun feels that DofE gives young people the opportunity to gain independence in a safe setting, and it is these skills that will stick with them for life. She can see that having new experiences develops the young people’s confidence tenfold.
As headteacher, she is “so proud” of both the adults who facilitate the DofE Awards, and the young people taking part, because seeing them develop into confident young people is a “wonderful thing to be part of”.
Among the reasons why Shivaun sees the value in the DofE are “to be challenged, to take part in new activities and to develop independent skills”.
She continues: “I think every SEND school in the country should run the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.”
In 2024, funding from Tobbells supported the purchase of specialised equipment for use on DofE expeditions for Sherbourne Fields School in Coventry. In July 2024, the school used the specialist equipment for the first time on their Bronze expedition. Read more about Grant Funding.
