'I'm leaving with a heavy heart but I've loved every minute'
It is the end of an era at Melton Mowbray’s acclaimed Birch Wood Area Special School with executive head, Ros Hopkins, leaving after eight years at the helm.
Ros has overseen a remarkable transformation of the Grange Drive School with lots of impressive new facilities and an expansion which has seen an extra 100 pupils now attending.
It is ‘with a heavy heart’ that she is leaving a school, which has been acknowledged as an educational centre of excellence particularly for children and young people on the autism spectrum.
Ros is moving on to become Director of Specialist Provision at Discovery Schools Trust, which manages a mix of mainstream and special schools.
Birch Wood is currently consulting with staff and families over potentially joining the Trust.
She told the Melton Times: “I have loved every minute serving the Birch Wood community, who have been incredibly supportive.
“Now it's time for me to improve special educational needs and inclusion across the county and help more families in my new role.”
Birch Wood School is 20-years-old now and although it started out a community school for Melton it now takes in children from across Leicestershire and over the border in Rutland.
Teaching is on three sites – Grange Drive (for pupils aged four to 19), Birch Wood Vale (11-19 years) and Birch Wood College Post 16.
Two new classrooms are being added to cater for the increasing demand for SEN places locally.
With 180 staff members, the school is one of the town’s biggest employers.
Ros said: “In 2016, when I started, there were 147 children on role and now there are 247.
"I believe we are the last special school to expand before they build a new one in Leicestershire.”
She is very proud of the innovations and developments the school has seen during her tenure to give the best possible support for the children and young people who attend, many of whom have multiple complex needs.
Birch Wood has a new autism specific provision, rebound therapy facilities, a high tech immersive room and a new post-16 centre, to name just a few additions
"Some of the children when they start here are non-speaking,” explained Ros.
"Some learn to walk here. I was particularly proud of one pupil who overcame challenges and last year he was able to drive himself away from the school on his last day.”
Funding levels for the school have barely changed in the last decade while support costs have risen sharply, she said, so ‘we are having to do more with less’, with fundraising events topping up their budget.
Ros added: “The staff are so proud to work at Birch Wood and I will miss them.
"Our families are fantastic and it is very humbling when they thank us for what we do for their children.”
Phil Leaney, who has worked at the school for three years in senior roles, is taking over as executive head.
Ros added: “This will be a smooth transition for the school.
"Phil brings with him a wide range of experience from both mainstream and SEND and has been instrumental in helping Birch Wood reach the high standards of education we've achieved to date.”