When our son, Daniel, was six years old, he was placed in a composite class with fifty other students and four teachers. He found this difficult and over time became increasingly distressed. By the end of first term, he was so unhappy that we had to withdraw him from the school. After this experience, he was unwilling to attend school at all and my husband and I did not feel it was appropriate to place any additional pressures on him. We felt that our only option was home education. Since Daniel is an only child, this arrangement was not entirely satisfactpaory as it left him isolated from other children. After nearly two years of struggling with these issues and finding no viable alternatives, we were told about Melbourne Community School. It initially appealed to us because of the degree of parental involvement it allowed and its reputation for proving a relaxed and flexible learning environment.

From his first visit, Daniel was happy at MCS. At first, we spent a great deal of time at the school in order to help him settle in. This was welcomed by the school and suited our needs in a way that no other school accessible to us offered. We were also able to arrange a flexible part time schooling/ part time home schooling arrangement for a time. Daniel particularly benefited from MCS’s small size and its capacity to be flexible, encouraging and to accommodate individual needs. For instance, during his early settling in at the school, Daniel was allowed to contact us by telephone if he wanted to. Although he rarely needed to do so, the knowledge that he could reach us at any time was reassuring for all of us. The school’s capacity to provide this kind of flexible, encouraging support is, we believe, unique and was extremely valuable for us.

Daniel is now at the school full-time and thoroughly enjoying himself. He is confidant and attached to many members of the school community, both child and adult. The school experience has been transformed from trauma to something that he already treasures as a special and valued part of his life. For this we are deeply grateful and we believe that MCS’s characteristics – its small size, integration of age groups, parental involvement, flexibility and real willingness to cater to individual needs – provide a unique and valuable contribution to the education system

Caroline, Robert and Daniel Elston