Visit to Children's Trust, Tadworth

The Children’s Trust, Tadworth, is the leading charity for children with acquired brain injury. They deliver rehabilitation, education and community services through skilled teams who work with children and young people, and their families. Thanks to their hard work, expertise and dedication, the charity supported one of our Sixth Form students, Rio, who around 18 months ago sustained an acquired head injury.

By receiving the very best specialist care from them, Rio was able to move to a local hospital after eight months, where he now continues his long road to recovery. Back in November 2023, over 20 of our Sixth Formers took part in a sponsored walk from Surbiton to Tadworth and raised over £1,500 for the charity as an appreciation of their work.

Returning to The Children’s Trust, Tadworth last week, Mr Iles and four of our Sixth Formers visited the charity for a two hour ‘Tour & Tea’ session to get to know and understand the charity a little bit more. First stop was a visit to the living quarters, where children live whilst treatments are administered. Many of the patients are young and parents /carers are also provided with a place to stay so that they can be ‘by their side’ throughout the treatment.

Students then visited the on-site school and saw children learning with very tailored teaching, using the very latest in technology and equipment. The school is a unique setting for children and young people with a wide range of special needs including neuro -disability and complex education, health, therapy and care needs. Through this learning, children's’ quality of life is improved by promoting their intellectual, physical, emotional and social development. The tour also took our students to see the music and hydro-therapy facilities before returning to the function room to listen to an interesting address by the Chair of the Trust, an experienced male nurse who works there and a mother of a child who has won important awards for overcoming immense difficulty.

The visit was a timely reminder of how lucky we all are to have such an amazing organisation like The Children’s Trust, Tadworth in the UK –and located so close by to us, too. And Sixth Formers couldn’t help but be reminded of the fantastic work it provided – and made such a positive difference to the life of - Sixth Former Rio. Incredibly, the very existence of The Childrens’ Trust is dependent on charitable donations and our students came away feeling more determined than ever to continue supporting such a worthwhile organisation. Watch this space to hear more about their plans to do just that!