BRAYS SCHOOL
Brays School is a special school in Birmingham, the 7th most deprived area in the country. We currently serve 105 pupils all of whom have profound and multiple learning difficulties, significant learning difficulties and complex medical needs.
Why is inclusion important to you and your setting?
“Inclusion is deeply personal to me. Spending five years in care, I experienced firsthand the isolation and lack of acceptance, being treated differently from my peers. My first job in a young offender’s institution revealed similar sentiments among learners who felt excluded from the education system, impacting their life choices. Now, working in a special school, I champion for every pupil and staff member to be seen, valued, and heard, ensuring their voices have a meaningful impact.”
Why did you choose the GEC as a solution?
“We chose GEC for a number of reasons. Having heard the founder Nic speak at a number of events she has always been incredibly solution focused and willing to link up individuals where there's a potential to work together for the benefit of young people and staff. GEC has an excellent platform with opportunities to link up with 'the collective' meaning that if schools need a firsthand perspective on any strand of equality - there is always someone to ask e.g. I recently asked Caroline Keep regarding accurate terminology to be used when describing an autistic individual (other than their name of course).”
What benefits have you seen?
“Through being a member of the GEC we were able to use the platform to research books for our re-launch of the Brays Classics. During their journey at Brays School every pupil is exposed a wide variety of high-quality and richly diverse texts that promote inclusion, self-expression and imagination. Each class now as a set of 'Super Six' books. We firmly believe that #RepresentationMatters and #Youcan'tbewhatyoucan'tsee.
One of the other benefits has been the partnership with Green Tech. As a special school we have a large number of Teaching Assistants who don't have access to their own device. Many of them complete their online training and in the past have had to use their phones. Through the donation of refurbished laptops staff can now access training. Some staff can use these laptops to help further their career by using them at home to complete their additional qualifications.”
Children attending Brays School will usually require augmented and modified curriculum opportunities including access to a range of digital technology solutions to achieve the best possible outcomes. Having access to hardware such as laptops and iPads allows them to utilise accessibility so tools so that their learners can overcome barriers e.g. using the text to speech function to listen to texts/stories and to type their recording of ideas which overcomes the physical barriers of hypermobility.
Headteacher, Kari Anson spoke to GEC Founder, Nic Ponsford about their lack of devices - and Nic knew that Green Tech would be able to offer a solutions.
Consequently, as a member of the Global Equality Collective, Brays School then worked with Green Tech Co. and their corporate partnerships to bridge the digital exclusion of some of the most vulnerable learners and their whole school community.
“Through our collaboration with the GEC, we were introduced to Kari and Brays School to provide them with 6 refreshed Lenovo devices, which has allowed their staff and students to use the laptops to access online training, further education and career possibilities, and complete additional qualifications.
We know that GEC will bring us more and more beneficiaries of the laptops so we can place the devices in new homes and create further social impact, driving digital inclusion.”
Matthew Dicks, Founder & CEO, Green Tech Co
What would you tell others considering signing up?
The platform and collective can support schools with their journey in keeping equality, diversity and inclusion at the forefront.
Kari Anson, Headteacher
