Surrey Community Funds helps our clients continue to learn new skills

The Surrey Community Fund has recently given a generous donation to clients in our Surrey-based supported housing projects. The money donated will ensure that our clients can continue with their education and skills development, which is so important to enabling them to lead independent and fulfilling lives.

One of the biggest issues we’ve faced over the past two years is the continuation of our clients’ education and skills development. Due to lockdown and the lasting impact of the pandemic, clients that were previously attending colleges and day centres have been unable to continue doing so. Education and the ability to learn new skills is an important part of our clients’ development, enabling them to go on to lead more independent lives.

Without the stimulation provided by attending college and day centres, our clients risk falling behind. We need to find an alternative route to deliver these educational services. One solution is to directly employ a qualified Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) teacher, who could work across our eight Surrey projects. It’s a big ask and one we need to raise enough money to fund. The recent donation from the Surrey Community Fund will go a long way to making this teaching post a reality.

It will be the first time we have employed a qualified SEND teacher, but we believe it will bring huge benefits to our clients, who by the nature of their learning disabilities, are finding it very difficult to cope with what has become for so many of us the new normal. The outcome for our clients in being able to continue with their education and skills development will be immense.

Paula Trevaskis, Registered Manager at Field Lane, said: "Every one of our clients deserves a champion – someone who will never give up on them, who understands the power of learning and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be."