Astraea

Astraea is creative, artistic and gifted, however she struggled with the learning methods that are used in her Secondary School. Astraea has had a dyslexia diagnosis through a private assessment, in the hope that the school would provide her extra help; nothing was forthcoming, and the situation deteriorated to the point that it was making Astraea ill going in.  She was taken out of school and the family are awaiting a fast tracked Autism/ADHD assessment through the new right to refer system for 14-16 year olds.

Astraea found the pace of the lessons at school too fast and having to sit still, read and copy from a board that with the overstimulation of the other loud and distracting students, meant that she often had to catch up at home. When Astraea manages to focus, she can be gifted in a few subjects such as art, science and maths. She thrives in a much smaller group or with her mother or her father sitting with her keeping her on track and helping her focus.

In addition to her educational issues, Astraea was starting to experience problems with fitting in with the rest of the school population. From the start of year 8 Astraea’s friendship group started to assimilate to fit in with others in the school, rather than celebrating the unique and creative like Astraea, they favoured current trends.  With Astraea’s quirky style and independence, she was shunned from the group. Without friends, she had to spend her break times in the library rather than getting picked on in the canteen. As she was not allowed food in the library, she stopped eating at school. She was becoming increasingly distressed going to school and the constant stress left her physically and emotionally exhausted. She was unable to get up in the morning, leading to lateness, and punishments instead of understanding, compounding the problem. Her parents watched as their happy, bright daughter became sad, lonely, stressed and exhausted.

Astraea was then offered a place at Plumpton, where she would study Floristry, Maths, English and Science. To pass her GCSEs she needed extra help outside of Plumpton – this is where the Starr trust were able to help with funding both travel to Plumpton and also the cost of the tutors to help get her where she needed to be.

We did not want Astraea to have to change who she is to find friends and fit in at school.

After taking Astraea from school, a plan was set up together to pass basic Maths and English so she could be free to concentrate on the wonderful creative things she is so good at. She has and English, Maths and Art tutors. The tutors have been wonderful. Her grades have improved, she is getting together a portfolio for Art and the guidance from the Art teacher is amazing to bring new ideas and help.

She now has friends, she is happy, she is eating well, and all her stresses have diminished. Plumpton is a true gift for kind gentle creative kids like Astraea.

We are delighted to be able to support Astraea going into her GCSE year and can’t wait to see where she goes from here.

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