Trealor's School
Treloar's started in 1907 when the then Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir William Purdie Treloar, set up a 'Cripples' Fund' as his mayoral appeal. His aim was to build a hospital and school outside the city for children with non-pulmonary tuberculosis. In 1908, Sir William opened his school and hospital in Alton, Hampshire. A few years ago, the government made local authoroties responsible for caring for a lot of disabled youngsters in their own communities, which left places like Treloar's to look after the really disabled ones. The students at Treloar's are contending with the most complex disabilities and, with those disabilities come further conditions such as learning difficulties, visual impairments, no verbal communication, medical and dietary issues, lack of social awareness, mental health problems and life-limiting conditions. Treloar's has steadily grown and developed, becoming one of the country's leading providers of education, care, therapy, medical support and independence training for disabled young people. They take early learners from age 2, then through the school to 16, the Sixth Form to 18 and the College to age 25. Every child has a plan of what they can achieve and Treloar's helps them achieve that.
Over 98% of the students are wheelchair users, over 40% are non-verbal and require support from alternative communication equipment, 18% have visual impairments and 8% have degenerative or life-limiting conditions. Most of the chairs and other equipment are individually designed for each student and these need replacing and improving as the youngsters get older.
Treloars is partly funded by local authorities but they just pay for the basics and the City, carrying on from Sir William Treloar, including the Bowyers as part of the Livery, contribute towards the shortfall.
As Master, I have been to Treloar's twice now and I have been overwhelmed by the sense of community spirit and happiness there. The staff and volunteers help the youngsters achieve their individual aspirations and as young Sophie, the Student Governor said, "Alongside all the fun and community at Treloar's, we do get some academic work done! We thrive in our learning environment as we are all treated like adults".
Ian Spring
Master
Archived event reports
- A full list of archived event reports is available in the Members' area