Chailey Heritage School is a

special school Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual d ...

located in

North Chailey North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is owned and operated by the Chailey Heritage Foundation. The school is for children and young adults, aged between 3 and 19, with complex physical disabilities and associated learning difficulties. The school has a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. It is a

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

. There is

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

accommodation on the site.

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

services are based at the same location.

History

Chailey Heritage School was founded in 1903 by

Grace Kimmins Dame Grace Mary Thyrza Kimmins, (''née'' Hannam; 6 May 1870 – 3 March 1954) was a British writer who created charities that worked with children who had disabilities. Biography Kimmins was born in Lewes, Sussex, the eldest of four children ...

and Alice Rennie for children with physical disabilities. The founding organisation was called the

Guild of the Brave Poor Things The Guild of the Brave Poor Things was a British charity for disabled children. It was established in 1894 by Dame Grace Kimmins (1871–1954) ''et al.'' to provide resources and education for disabled boys to enable them to make a productive plac ...

. The school moved site three miles within Chailey in 1936. The 2002 inspection noted that the school was choosing to admit children with increasingly complex levels of need.

Buildings

The school has a chapel, St Martin's Chapel, which is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It was built in 1913; the architects were

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

and his son.

School performance and inspections

, the 2014 inspection is the most recent, with a judgement by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

of Outstanding. The school was judged Outstanding in the previous two inspections in 2009 and 2007. The 2002 inspection before that did not result in a judgement category, but the inspectors concluded that "The high quality of teaching and care, good achievement of pupils and sound leadership make this an effective school that provides good value for money". The school has been recognised for good practice in several areas. It has a specialist service for young people aged up to 25, to support them to plan for the future. It has had, starting in 1995, a group supported by an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

for young people to give their views. In 2005, the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

noted that the school "is nationally recognised for its good practice guidance on intimate care for disabled children". In 2003 the school was noted to make good use of the internet to share information with parents.

Chailey Heritage Clinical Services (CHCS)

Chailey Heritage Clinical Services (CHCS) is the NHS service co-located with Chailey Heritage School to provide clinical and therapeutic input on site and in children's own homes. In addition to their work at Chailey Heritage School they provide specialist services for children and young people with complex neurodisability throughout East and West Sussex.

Chailey Heritage Foundation

The Chailey Heritage Foundation, which was founded as the Chailey Heritage, is an English charity that owns and runs the school. It was founded out of the

Guild of the Poor Brave Things The Guild of the Brave Poor Things was a British charity for disabled children. It was established in 1894 by Dame Grace Kimmins (1871–1954) ''et al.'' to provide resources and education for disabled boys to enable them to make a productive plac ...

in 1903 by Dame Grace Kimmins. The foundation specialises in support of children and young people with complex physical disabilities and health needs - predominantly through the Chailey Heritage School. At one time the Heritage also owned and ran the

Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital The ruins of the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital stand to the seaward side of Tide Mills, east of Newhaven, Sussex, in England. History The hospital, which was built to provide aftercare and recovery for disabled boys who had undergone surgery, ...

near to the village of

Tide Mills Tide Mills is a derelict village in East Sussex, England. It lies about two kilometres (1.2 miles) south-east of Newhaven, East Sussex, Newhaven and four kilometres (2.5 miles) north-west of Seaford, East Sussex, Seaford and is near ...

. Futures@Chailey Heritage is the charity's new transition service for young adults with physical disabilities and includes a Life Skills Centre.

Trustees

The list of trustees at the close of 2014 is: *

William Shelford William ("Bill") Thomas Cornelius Shelford (born 1943) is a Deputy Lieutenant for East Sussex. He was the 2009/2010 High Sheriff of East Sussex. He was previously the Senior Partner of CMS Cameron McKenna and before that he was a specialist in ...

DL (chair) *Mike Atkinson (School Governor) *Keith Chaplin (Governor) *David Crowther *Dr Elizabeth Green (Governor) *Lucinda Hanbury *Verena Hanbury MBE, DL (President) *Chris Jones *Robin Meyer *Jane Roberts

Notable staff

Richard Henry Coleman Richard Henry Coleman (3 April 1888 – 17 February 1965) was a cathedral organist, who served at Peterborough Cathedral.The Succession of Organists. Watkins Shaw Background Richard Henry Pinwill Coleman was born on 3 April 1888 in Dartmouth. He ...

(from 1920) Between 1906-1916 two matrons trained at The London Hospital organised the nursing care of the children. As

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in a hospital in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge ...

they would have played a central role in the smooth running of the establishment. Chailey Heritage were employing reputable matrons of a high calibre from the largest voluntary hospital in England. * Ethel Julian (1871-1958), Matron, 1906-1908. Julian trained at

The London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and spe ...

under

Eva Luckes Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes (8 July 1854 – 16 February 1919) was matron of the London Hospital from 1880 to 1919. Early life Eva Charlotte Ellis Luckes (she spelled her name Lückes with the umlaut until World War I)Rogers, Sarah (2022). ...

between 1900-1902.Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022) * Florence Mary Glover (1874-1970), Matron, 1908 until at least 1916. Glover also trained at The London Hospital between 1902 and 1904, and remained there as a staff nurse, holiday sister and home sister until her promotion to Chailey.

Searchlight Workshops

Searchlight was founded in 1933 by Matron Powell, successor to Dame

, as a set of workshops and home to teach useful skills and formed under the auspices of the school. It located on Mount Pleasant, the hill behind the East Beach at Denton. Searchlight undertook printing and small assembly work as well as small scale woodwork. It participated in an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

scheme. Its existence as a charity, number 210205, separate from the school terminated in 2011.

Notable former pupils

Ian Dury Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was an English singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame in the late 1970s, during the punk rock, punk and new wave music, new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Kilburn ...

, musician and actor * Peter Hull, paralympian * Alison Lapper, artist

References

External links

Chailey Heritage School website
Scroll to Heritage Craft School 1903 {{authority control Special schools in East Sussex Educational institutions established in 1903 1903 establishments in England Private schools in East Sussex