As part of Autism Awareness Week (March 29 - April 3 2021) I am going to be walking 7K each day for 7 days on my treadmill for a Super 7 Challenge to raise money for Friends of Freemantles - the parent and teach run charity that raises money for Freemantles School.

Freemantles school is a Surrey County Council school for children and young people with complex social communication needs, usually including a diagnosis of autism. It has around 200 pupils aged between 4 and 19 years old.

More and more children each year are being diagnosed with autism and the school are now being asked to take in double the number of pupils each year and resources are at an all-time low.

Specialist schools focus a large percentage of teaching time on life skills and community learning. Community learning is a fundamental and vitally important aspect of our children’s curriculum so that they can learn about what appropriate, socially acceptable behaviour looks like and begin to model this.

These outings include activities such as trips to cafes or shops for food tech ingredients, country parks, public libraries, and public transport, horse riding and sailing, forest school, sporting events and competitions, attending local college courses, work experience, and Duke of Edinburgh activities.

In order to access all of these activities and learning opportunities, the school’s fleet of minibuses is essential. It is their lifeline. Without them the students cannot learn from the outside world, or enjoy taking advantage of the kindness and willingness of our local community to embrace them and support them.

Over the last year, a few of the school’s minibuses had to be withdrawn from use due to age meaning that fewer pupils were able to access their favourite activities and community learning.

Friends of Freemantles are trying desperately this year to raise enough money to replace those minibuses with new models so that our children can get back to normal after such a unsettling and confusing year.

Thank you so much for any donation you can make!!