From Elizabeth Leech.
I WOULD like to relate to your readers my experiences of Grainville School.
My son was placed at Grainville when we moved to Jersey five years ago.

He moved from a very small rural school (five students in his class) to a very different school system. He found this change very difficult indeed and so getting him to attend school every morning became a nightmare.

I approached his form tutor at Grainville and explained what was happening. From that moment on, my son had all the support and encouragement he or I could have wished for. A buddy system was put in place, support in all his subjects and his form tutor became a major positive role model to him, always available, supportive and above all, kind.

When my son discovered his passion for music, Grainville was always encouraging and, when he formed a band with his friends, they were asked to play at all kinds of school occasions and presentations. My son went on to be prefect for the academic year 2010/2011 where his main focus was to help newcomers to the school as he was helped.

I would also like to mention how compassionately the tragic and untimely death of my son’s maths teacher, Mr Holland, was dealt with by the school. He and indeed the entire school was devastated by the loss but the support and solidarity was a joy to behold.

I’m not saying it was all plain sailing as my son is not an A* student and getting him to study for his GCSEs was difficult but again with lots of encouragement from all his teachers at Grainville, he attained his goal of getting into Hautlieu to study for his A levels. We attended the 2011 prize giving for Grainville School last week where my son won the Trish Roberts Award for Exceptional Achievement in Music and awards for achieving grades far higher than predicted in English, French and Science.

It saddens me that as a society we seem to be obsessed with having our children achieve A*s. I believe all effort should be acknowledged and each child encouraged to be the best they can be, in all aspects of their lives, not just academic. That’s what my son received from his time at Grainville and I’m very grateful that he had the opportunity to attend such an holistic educational facility.