Last Friday saw the Shadow Minister for Disabled People and MP for South West Surrey, the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt, officially opening a new mezzanine floor of Stepping Stones School in Hindhead, Surrey. The mezzanine brings state of the art facilities to the school which was opened only two years ago in a stunning, converted church. The school caters for children with hemiplegia (a condition affecting one side of the body caused by some form of damage to the opposite side of the brain) and other mild learning or physical disabilities.

Stepping Stones School was set up by Churt couple, Larry Sullivan and Sandy Seagrove, whose daughter has hemiplegia. The couple realised that their daughter was not thriving in mainstream, inclusive education and recognised that other children with hemiplegia also needed to find a school where they could learn, in a safe, positive, environment that provided for their social, physical and educational needs.

Converting the disused church in Tower Road, Hindhead seemed an opportunity that was too good to miss and the couple were quick to marry the expertise provided by various individuals, such as educational specialist Professor Stephen Heppell, founder of Ultralab a world leading learning technology centre, disability expert and government advisor, Robert Hancock, with Larry’s own experience of cutting edge technology. The result was a state of the art, specialist school.

Two years on and Stepping Stones is now ready for the second phase of its development: a new mezzanine floor comprising state of the art IT, cinema and web based shared collaborative learning facilities. This enables children sitting in a classroom in Hindhead to either share their lessons with a classroom of children on the other side of the world, or undertake joint projects about life in other countries with the children who live there, all through the clever use of web cams and computers.

Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Minister for Disabled People stated: “I am delighted and privileged to be opening this mezzanine. I want to pay tribute to everybody who has been working so hard to successfully complete the project, particularly to Larry Sullivan whose drive and inspiration had made something possible that will transform the lives of the children. These facilities will make a fantastic addition to the wonderful learning environment that the pupils benefit from here, at Stepping Stones and I look forward to hearing how they make use of them.”

It is not just the technology, however, that makes this school so special, as Robert Hancock suggested "The school is creating a new form of education for students with additional needs which enables far greater skills development, social confidence and emotional stability. It is this quality of balanced input which will enable students to be personally and functionally independent when they move into the community from a school or college setting."

Stepping Stones is now looking to make more links with business sponsors who may be able to help pupils of the school. Larry takes his lead from America: “17 of the top 20 universities in the world are in the USA. They are dominant because commerce is engaged and supporting as is the case with Stepping Stones. We are ‘not for profit’ and seek to work co-operatively with educational authorities, so enhancing their ability to do a better job with students with special needs.” Robert added: "The advantage of a school setting such as this, is that it will provide the high level support required for targeted groups of students which local authorities can, sadly, no longer afford.”

If you would like to know more about the school, please contact Michael Lohan on 01428 609083.