Petition: Save Bradstow School
My son Chester who is now 15 years old was diagnosed with autism aged 2. Chester has attended two previous schools, the last being an autism specific specialist school. Coming into his teen years it became evident Chester needed a 24 hour curriculum. 
It took a year of us to get Chester to his current placement at Bradstow school. Eight schools where consulted with before Bradstow, all 8 saying they couldn’t meet needs. This is when essex CC finally agreed to consult with Bradstow School in Kent. Chester started Bradstow school at a residential 38 wk placement in sept ‘23.
The reason a 24 hr curriculum is beneficial to Chester is because , not all formal learning takes place within school hours and how the school are able to improve the quality of his life by helping Chester to access the community (bowling, art club, trampolining, theme parks etc) all of which we couldn’t provide at home due to Chester’s high level of care needs.
As Chester has got older his anxiety has increased, he currently struggles with transitions and doesn’t attend class at school.
Being a residential student Bradstow can help to minimise Chester’s anxiety by teaching him in the home. Whilst working on a plan to get him back to class without increasing his anxiety which could potentially set him back months.
If he attended a day placement school this would never happen and he would never attend school, resulting in him being isolated and setting him back with his education.
Since attending Bradstow with the level of care they offer, Chester is thriving. His whole world has opened up in a way it never has before. He has space and freedom. He’s learning life skills and self care which was always a struggle at home. One thing Bradstow has shown Chester the importance in is friendships, Chester never realised the value of friendship and now he does. Daily I’m sent pictures of him with his friends and the biggest smile on his face.
He’s found his own community.
November’24 Wandsworth council who maintains Bradstow, sent parents an email to inform us they are proposing to close Bradstow from August ‘25 because of financial difficulties due to unpaid school fees made by KCC. Amounting in a £2 million debt that is set to rise by the end of the school year.
Wandsworth will not be taking legal action against KCC to retrieve this debt!
Unbeknownst to us Wandsworth have been in talks with KCC since 2021 about transferring Bradstow to KCC as our school is situated in Kent.
Wandsworth had even said they would transfer the land to Kent free of charge!
Recently KCC pulled out of this consultation hence Wandsworth consulting to close.
If Bradstow closes this will leave 33 vulnerable complex needs young people without their home, community, safe place, friendships, and education. This is NOT just a school.
We have tried to contact Essex cc with no communication back. We have been completely ignored. Essex cc have been informed of the potential closure of Bradstow but they haven’t even sent us one email addressing this and they haven’t responded back to any of our emails or calls !
If Bradstow does close for good in august 25….. this is only 9 months away!
Realistically how are we meant to create a smooth transition to a new placement in this time? Chester has high complex needs…. 9 months isn’t long enough even if we had a school to send him to.
Essex cc is who sends Chester’s ehcp out to potential schools to consult with about a placement. How are we going to do this in the timeframe set by Wandsworth if Essex cc are ignoring us?
Kent cc have also completely ignored all of their family’s at Bradstow, they have majority of young people at the school.
Neither councils are working with us as families and are failing their duty of care!
This is a very inhumane way of treating such vulnerable individuals.
It was last year that eight schools said they couldn’t meet needs with Chester, where will we find this school? Does this mean Chester needs to move further away from his family. Isolating us from having a relationship with him?
As parents of Bradstow school, we have set up social media pages to share our children’s stories. The councils do not understand the complexities of our children and have very little understanding of the work Bradstow do. Here we update our followers daily, sharing the amazing work Bradstow do and giving our young people a voice.
Save Bradstow School | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree
Here is the link to our socials. We also have links to two petitions.
The first one we have set up to stop Wandsworth consolation to close Bradstow and work with the school to find an alternative solution. We feel not all avenues have been explored and closure isn’t the answer.
We are an outstanding ofsted placement that this country needs more of, not less.
Anyone can sign this.
The second petition is set up by our east Thanet mp Polly Billington. She is calling on KCC to reconsider the decision to take over Bradstow school.
This petition is for Kent residents only.
We would greatly appreciate any form of support to keep this vital placement open and our children in their home and school.
