One of our young people leaves us today after attending Victoria School for 12 years. This is a lovely message from their parents:

We have not got the right words to adequately express how grateful we are to every single member of the team at Victoria School. Our young person has had an absolutely wondrous time with you all and we are profoundly grateful for the exceptional love, care, creative input, nurture, growth, laughter and joy each of you have shown him. He has loved his time with you and has grown up from a tiny young three year old when he was first given a place in nursery right up til today when he is growing into a wonderful young man. When he started in the nursery, he was very ill often and spent so much of the next few years in and out of Birmingham Children's Hospital. Every time our young person came back into school, we were blown away by the love and care he was given. Whenever we brought him over and crept into an assembly or a classroom, it made us cry with gratitude that he was part of such a wondrous community. We often used to sit in the car park after dropping him off and take a moment to gather ourselves as we felt we had stepped into a truly exceptional place.

When he was younger, there were many times when his medical team did not think he would make it. He was so ill and in hospital for months and months on end. Coming back into school each time was made smooth by the collaborative work across the whole team.

Every single member of the school from the support team, office team, those making and serving dinners, teaching staff, physiotherapists, speech and language specialists, nurses and leadership teams all work together to create a place where each and every child is loved, valued, nurtured and grown. We can only imagine the sacrificial investment each of you make each and every day.

Our young person has grown up in this school community. He loves each of you so very much and we weep with gratitude as we write this note. Thank you for every single moment you have poured out into his and each child's life. There is nowhere quite like Victoria School and we feel deeply privileged that he has been able to be part of school life over the past twelve years. You have helped him to find his place in the world and be confident in who he his. That is a rare and beautiful gift.

He is going to 'college' now to continue his development as a young man. He calls it Monsters Inc University where he is going to study his favourite subject, the iPad.....as you know, he would love to hug each and everyone of you before he goes as would we. We would love to be able to say face to face how grateful we are (though I think we would weep and not get the words out!!). We are so looking forward to when he can come back into the school when this wretched pandemic eases, and give you high fives, fist bumps and perhaps even a quick hug.

We started this saying words are inadequate and we end it feeling exactly the same. No gift that we could buy or words that we can find would even come close to expressing our deep thankfulness. But perhaps the best gift we can give you is seeing where our young person is today - a wonderful young man full of cheekiness, love, fun, humour and kindness. You have each played a huge role in that.

With our love and gratitude.