In 2015, I was asked by one of my former tutors to go back to the University of Chichester to talk to students as she had just introduced a new course, the BA (Hons) Education, Special Needs and Disability. It was brilliant to meet the students and talk to them about my life as well as answering questions they had prepared for me.
I was absolutely delighted when I received a letter from the university in 2019 informing me that I had been awarded an Honorary Master in Education and it has been such a pleasure to work with the staff and students on various courses since then. I am very grateful to them all for their voluntary support, especially at Wheely Wonders.
When I visit the university in person or virtually, I start by sharing my experiences of education…My PowerPoint presentation on this
topic can be seen below.
I started nursery school aged 3 while my family were living in Berlin. It was a mainstream nursery but I had my own helper. After moving back to Surrey, I started First School aged 4 in a class of children with special needs, in a ‘unit’ alongside the rest of the main school. My teacher was doing her MA researching how children related to each other in school. She asked me who my friends were at playtime and I named children who were not in my class. When she talked to other children in the school, she found that friendships crossed over the ‘unit’ and other classes. After this, all the special needs children were moved into the main school. In my class there were three or four other children with special needs but we all shared a helper. A lot of the time I was able to be independent which helped me feel the same as all my able bodied friends! I was so happy every day at school and loved playtimes in my small electric wheelchair, especially when I was a bit older and looked after the younger children, some of whom also had special needs!
I moved to a convent junior school (with a helper employed by the County Council) when I was 8 and was able to spend some of my class time without my helper. I loved break times when I used my new Turbo chair which enabled me to play freely, and to lower myself to ground level or up to standing height. I made good friends from my own year group as well as older and younger girls. In Year 5, I had quite a challenging time as my teacher expected me to work hard. By then, my writing was getting slower and I needed more time to complete homework. However, through being in her class I learned useful skills such as being confident to ask for extra support for tasks such as ruling lines in maths and to push myself to do my very best – I think this is something I have carried forward through my life! The headmistress was a wonderful nun who was so kind and even stepped in to help me when my helper was off sick. My favourite memories from those years were the two day trips we did to the Isle of Wight and playing a newsreader (narrator) in our leavers’ production of The Evacuees. Drama was one of my favourite lessons and I loved the feeling we all had from working together on this musical!
When I was 11, I moved to the senior school on the same campus, but there were more hazards such as big slopes and several floors. My helpers pushed me around in my manual chair, moving rooms for most lessons. This made me feel restricted, but I was still able to be in some classes on my own where I could sit next to friends rather than at a separate desk with a helper. My favourite subjects were Art and Technology and still have all the things I made, including a triangular mirror which I have recently restored! I also designed a wooden panel with flashing LED lights that could sit on my manual wheelchair tray to alert people I was coming along the crowded corridors, but really I wanted to be independent in my electric chair and tooting my horn! I was becoming quite uncomfortable sitting in my manual wheelchair all day in one position so the end of Year 9 was a good time for a change.
Before I started in Year 10 my family moved to Sidlesham and I attended Manhood Community College (now The Academy, Selsey). I was free again as I was able to use my Permobil electric wheelchair in school! It was such a different school from my previous one as the teachers made me feel much more grown up and responsible for my own work! I had regular meetings with the SENCo and also had a designated support teacher who made sure everything was going smoothly for me and helped me with time management and study skills. When I was in Year 10 we all had to do two weeks work experience and my class teacher helped me to get a placement working at Sidlesham Primary School. I did some work in the school office but mostly helped children with work on the computers and with reading as well as chatting to the children at playtimes. This really helped me to see what I could do after I left school – I had always wanted to be a teacher! I joined the Wellspring team when I was 16 and enjoyed the committee meetings which were held at school and I really felt my experiences were valued.
After my GCSEs I moved to Chichester College for my A Levels in French, German and Art. One of my school helpers continued onto college with me for some days but when she didn’t come with me I travelled in by taxi and was dropped off at the front entrance. I would drive to find my helper in the ‘Study Centre’. I always felt as if I was in a dream, or a film when I did this; it was such an amazing feeling to be part of such a big crowd and just go smoothly through the automatic doors! I just loved the buzz in the refectory and the campus shops. The support was I received was excellent and whenever I had a problem it was soon sorted out. My tutors were very approachable and I became good friends with my personal tutor and one very special helper who I am still in touch with. I became the Wellspring Chair and Editor while I was at college, and I will always remember the first time I had to run a meeting and realised I was a grown up! After my AS levels I did a month’s voluntary work back at Sidlesham School which helped my confidence in knowing that I really wanted to work with children.
My personal tutor at college was brilliant at supporting me with my UCAS applications and helping me find courses I was interested in. I looked at two other universities where some staff told me things I wouldn’t be able to do due to my disability. I decided that Chichester was the perfect choice as at an open day the Childhood Studies team were very welcoming and supportive of me doing the course. Luckily the helper who stayed with me at college agreed to continue with me through to university. This made my transition process much less stressful as I was able to discuss any queries with her and we sorted them out together. During my first year, I did a work placement in a nursery school. I found it difficult to gain the attention of the small children as they were in a ‘free play’ nursery where they could move around and choose their own activities. I did enjoy spending time with them but I decided that I would prefer to work with older children. My second year placement was in a Year One class where I was given specific tasks to do with small groups or individuals. The class teacher was extremely encouraging and this helped me see that this was something I could continue to do after my degree. I volunteered to do another month of work with the same class at the end of my second year, then after I finished my degree, I wrote to the school to see if they were able to offer me a job.
In September 2005 I started a part-time job there and by the end of my first year, I was working three afternoons a week. I currently work with children from the junior classes for comprehension support, but in the past have worked with children throughout the school in small groups and on a one to one basis with literacy, speech and language work as well as doing projects and craft activities with children who had emotional difficulties. I have a personal assistant with me while I am at work and she supports me with all the administration and fetching the children from the classrooms. In 2006 I started running my Craft Club from the art studio in my garden and some children have now returned as helpers and I love hearing what they are achieving at school and in their spare time.
In 2013 I was chosen to be part of the government’s Disability Confident campaign to encourage employers to have disabled people in the workforce. A film was made about me and my work and (available on YouTube). I was invited to the launch of the campaign in London and I was one of the Role Models who was chosen to meet the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The film about my job was shown on a big screen; it was lovely to see the children I worked with (in the film), when I felt I was in such a different world that day!
Due to Covid-19, I haven’t been able to work in school for two years, but I have been teaching via Microsoft Teams; my PA goes into school to make sure the laptop is working there as well as supporting the children. I’ve been so impressed at how easily the children adapted to this new way of working and it has been wonderful seeing and hearing them grow in confidence with their reading! Through the comprehension worksheets, I have learned lots of new things that I didn’t know when I was at school. This year we have some new staff and in the first week I discovered that one of the newly qualified teachers had met me virtually as she heard me talk in a conference, where I gave my presentation for the University of Chichester last spring! It feels really great to now work with her every week and share notes on the children’s progress. I am really looking forward to getting back to school properly and seeing the children and staff in 3D again!
Lizzie Baily 2022
I was absolutely delighted when I received a letter from the university in 2019 informing me that I had been awarded an Honorary Master in Education and it has been such a pleasure to work with the staff and students on various courses since then. I am very grateful to them all for their voluntary support, especially at Wheely Wonders.
When I visit the university in person or virtually, I start by sharing my experiences of education…My PowerPoint presentation on this
topic can be seen below.
I started nursery school aged 3 while my family were living in Berlin. It was a mainstream nursery but I had my own helper. After moving back to Surrey, I started First School aged 4 in a class of children with special needs, in a ‘unit’ alongside the rest of the main school. My teacher was doing her MA researching how children related to each other in school. She asked me who my friends were at playtime and I named children who were not in my class. When she talked to other children in the school, she found that friendships crossed over the ‘unit’ and other classes. After this, all the special needs children were moved into the main school. In my class there were three or four other children with special needs but we all shared a helper. A lot of the time I was able to be independent which helped me feel the same as all my able bodied friends! I was so happy every day at school and loved playtimes in my small electric wheelchair, especially when I was a bit older and looked after the younger children, some of whom also had special needs!
I moved to a convent junior school (with a helper employed by the County Council) when I was 8 and was able to spend some of my class time without my helper. I loved break times when I used my new Turbo chair which enabled me to play freely, and to lower myself to ground level or up to standing height. I made good friends from my own year group as well as older and younger girls. In Year 5, I had quite a challenging time as my teacher expected me to work hard. By then, my writing was getting slower and I needed more time to complete homework. However, through being in her class I learned useful skills such as being confident to ask for extra support for tasks such as ruling lines in maths and to push myself to do my very best – I think this is something I have carried forward through my life! The headmistress was a wonderful nun who was so kind and even stepped in to help me when my helper was off sick. My favourite memories from those years were the two day trips we did to the Isle of Wight and playing a newsreader (narrator) in our leavers’ production of The Evacuees. Drama was one of my favourite lessons and I loved the feeling we all had from working together on this musical!
When I was 11, I moved to the senior school on the same campus, but there were more hazards such as big slopes and several floors. My helpers pushed me around in my manual chair, moving rooms for most lessons. This made me feel restricted, but I was still able to be in some classes on my own where I could sit next to friends rather than at a separate desk with a helper. My favourite subjects were Art and Technology and still have all the things I made, including a triangular mirror which I have recently restored! I also designed a wooden panel with flashing LED lights that could sit on my manual wheelchair tray to alert people I was coming along the crowded corridors, but really I wanted to be independent in my electric chair and tooting my horn! I was becoming quite uncomfortable sitting in my manual wheelchair all day in one position so the end of Year 9 was a good time for a change.
Before I started in Year 10 my family moved to Sidlesham and I attended Manhood Community College (now The Academy, Selsey). I was free again as I was able to use my Permobil electric wheelchair in school! It was such a different school from my previous one as the teachers made me feel much more grown up and responsible for my own work! I had regular meetings with the SENCo and also had a designated support teacher who made sure everything was going smoothly for me and helped me with time management and study skills. When I was in Year 10 we all had to do two weeks work experience and my class teacher helped me to get a placement working at Sidlesham Primary School. I did some work in the school office but mostly helped children with work on the computers and with reading as well as chatting to the children at playtimes. This really helped me to see what I could do after I left school – I had always wanted to be a teacher! I joined the Wellspring team when I was 16 and enjoyed the committee meetings which were held at school and I really felt my experiences were valued.
After my GCSEs I moved to Chichester College for my A Levels in French, German and Art. One of my school helpers continued onto college with me for some days but when she didn’t come with me I travelled in by taxi and was dropped off at the front entrance. I would drive to find my helper in the ‘Study Centre’. I always felt as if I was in a dream, or a film when I did this; it was such an amazing feeling to be part of such a big crowd and just go smoothly through the automatic doors! I just loved the buzz in the refectory and the campus shops. The support was I received was excellent and whenever I had a problem it was soon sorted out. My tutors were very approachable and I became good friends with my personal tutor and one very special helper who I am still in touch with. I became the Wellspring Chair and Editor while I was at college, and I will always remember the first time I had to run a meeting and realised I was a grown up! After my AS levels I did a month’s voluntary work back at Sidlesham School which helped my confidence in knowing that I really wanted to work with children.
My personal tutor at college was brilliant at supporting me with my UCAS applications and helping me find courses I was interested in. I looked at two other universities where some staff told me things I wouldn’t be able to do due to my disability. I decided that Chichester was the perfect choice as at an open day the Childhood Studies team were very welcoming and supportive of me doing the course. Luckily the helper who stayed with me at college agreed to continue with me through to university. This made my transition process much less stressful as I was able to discuss any queries with her and we sorted them out together. During my first year, I did a work placement in a nursery school. I found it difficult to gain the attention of the small children as they were in a ‘free play’ nursery where they could move around and choose their own activities. I did enjoy spending time with them but I decided that I would prefer to work with older children. My second year placement was in a Year One class where I was given specific tasks to do with small groups or individuals. The class teacher was extremely encouraging and this helped me see that this was something I could continue to do after my degree. I volunteered to do another month of work with the same class at the end of my second year, then after I finished my degree, I wrote to the school to see if they were able to offer me a job.
In September 2005 I started a part-time job there and by the end of my first year, I was working three afternoons a week. I currently work with children from the junior classes for comprehension support, but in the past have worked with children throughout the school in small groups and on a one to one basis with literacy, speech and language work as well as doing projects and craft activities with children who had emotional difficulties. I have a personal assistant with me while I am at work and she supports me with all the administration and fetching the children from the classrooms. In 2006 I started running my Craft Club from the art studio in my garden and some children have now returned as helpers and I love hearing what they are achieving at school and in their spare time.
In 2013 I was chosen to be part of the government’s Disability Confident campaign to encourage employers to have disabled people in the workforce. A film was made about me and my work and (available on YouTube). I was invited to the launch of the campaign in London and I was one of the Role Models who was chosen to meet the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The film about my job was shown on a big screen; it was lovely to see the children I worked with (in the film), when I felt I was in such a different world that day!
Due to Covid-19, I haven’t been able to work in school for two years, but I have been teaching via Microsoft Teams; my PA goes into school to make sure the laptop is working there as well as supporting the children. I’ve been so impressed at how easily the children adapted to this new way of working and it has been wonderful seeing and hearing them grow in confidence with their reading! Through the comprehension worksheets, I have learned lots of new things that I didn’t know when I was at school. This year we have some new staff and in the first week I discovered that one of the newly qualified teachers had met me virtually as she heard me talk in a conference, where I gave my presentation for the University of Chichester last spring! It feels really great to now work with her every week and share notes on the children’s progress. I am really looking forward to getting back to school properly and seeing the children and staff in 3D again!
Lizzie Baily 2022