Exceptional Ideas Ltd was set up in 2007 to provide educational consultancy and training. We opened Teaseldown School in Ridgewell, Essex, in 2009 to help young people aged 11 – 17 to overcome barriers they have faced whilst learning within the mainstream education system. In 2013, Primrose Hill School, Chelmsford, was opened to complement Teaseldown school. In January 2015, Teaseldown moved to larger and bespoke premises in Sible Hedingham in the Sugar Loaves building. Brook View School on the site of the old Brewery Tavern in Wethersfield is the latest addition to our organisation which opened in early 2015.
Exceptional Ideas Ltd is also able to offer therapeutic education in the form of Outreach. Our approach is multi-professional, utilising an evidence-based planning and evaluation process which is underpinned by current practitioner research. We believe that therapeutic education should be creative, flexible, individually designed and incorporate measurable assessments of progress. We also believe that all students should have access to a full curriculum across KS3 to KS4 which includes formal examinations such as GCSEs.
Brett Runchman and Hazel Bunting are also associate lecturers at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and have input into Health degree programmes on offer there. Our staff come from a wide catchment of backgrounds from acting, caring, health, education, social care and all have had a high level of training that equips them to understand our ethos with clarity.
Our managers are all people who are clear about our philosophy and have demonstrated their ability to work with our students following this philosophy. They come from a wide range of disciplines and it is our stated intention that they will all be educated to at least degree standard during their time working as senior staff within the organisation. We are a learning organisation and intend that our senior staff demonstrate this by improving their knowledge and practise to further support other staff and Directors' and ultimately improve the experience and outcomes for our students.
We aim to provide good support for all staff to enable them to become the best they can be for our students and parents. This means following and explaining reasons behind our policies and procedures and, ultimately, our philosophy within the realm of therapeutic education.
We aim to provide the best education possible for our students within a therapeutic environment and use an integrated therapeutic approach with both staff and students.
We aim to provide quality training for our staff and enable them to learn and improve at all times. We hold high expectations of our staff and students alike. We encourage, motivate, support and challenge our staff and students at all times and never rest on our laurels or believe that we have done all we can.
Our managers are aware of their role and the results of assessments and outcomes and have clarity over what we can do to improve the outcomes for staff and students. We are aware of our weaknesses and how and when we can improve these weaknesses.
We are uncompromising in working to improve the outcomes for our staff and students. We constantly review our performance and are critical of our performance. We do this through incisive supervision and performance review, regular collection and reflection on our performance measures and supporting and promoting understanding, knowledge, skills and providing equality of opportunity across the organisation. We safeguard children and staff effectively and protect them from radicalisation and challenge intolerance at every opportunity.
We provide a therapeutic environment that is sensitive to everyone’s needs and provides support and guidance for staff, students and parents. We work closely with other organisations, always clear of our role in the process of nurturing and challenging all stakeholders to work towards better goals. We do this through creating a calm, supporting and challenging environment where students and staff can feel safe and parents and other professionals can feel part of the process and are well versed on what is happening and why.
Leaders are people who inspire and motivate people. They are knowledgeable and supportive but know how, when and why to challenge for the best outcomes. We aspire to be more and more effective and to instil this aspiration in all our staff and students.