Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson. These events were driven by Social Media but born by the everyday citizens who were living the stories. It was this story telling that gained supporters and the social reach took these events all around the globe to unpresidented reach and acclaim.
Good Social Media is defined by evolved sharing and active participation; who would believe we would see so many prominent and famous people throwing water over their heads!! But they did. It is this engagment that makes the social media story, and that is why I write this post.
I want to tell you about a very Special Needs School in Bristol.St Christophers School who do amazing work with disabled children with extremely complex needs faces closure at the end of March 2016 and all pupils will be transferred, potentially hundreds of miles away from their families.
I could write quite a lenghty piece about the school, but the words of a sister of one pupil posting on a petition site are more appropiate than I could ever pen.
"My brother has severe autism, learning difficulties, complex needs, challenging behaviour and sensory issues. He became to violent to stay at home, he would attack everyone so we had no choice, it was the hardest decision we ever had to make but we now realise it was the safest and best decision."
"St christophers has saved my brother. We used to not be able to go near him, it was like he hated us but now we can sit in a room with him, play, have kisses and cuddles and it is the best thing ever just to see the amazing change he has made. He carers are so great with him and he loves them so much, they are like our family. The school is great he has learnt so much…." " I have never met such dedicated people! What about the families? Do you care that the kids will most likely end up miles away?! You need to save this school! My brother is non verbal so he cannot say how he feels so i will speak for him! "
If you have read this far, then you must have been touched by the words and wondering what you can do to help. I want to create a social media storm, this is only a small school with not many parents to fight the cause – but they are trying and this is why I reach out to you.
There is an online petition which I would urge you to sign and share. They need as many people to become aware of the schools plight as possible but help publicize it so much; that closing it would fall under greater scrutiny.
I need every reader of this article to share it with your friends and groups, otherwise I have failed. The only way to save this School is by Social Media coverage and if that does not work you have failed.
We are not alone, we have already received retweets from Peter Andre and Steph and Dom of GoggleBox and I am truely grateful, but I need more.
By getter our message out there large organisations are taking notice; the NAS have added an article to their website and social media pages raising concerns over the schools closure.
The National Autistic Society has concerns over the schools closure leaving the South West of England with no specialist provision. I quote "The closure puts a spotlight on the national challenges parents face in getting appropriate provision for children with complex needs. In the recent Spending Review, the Government announced investment in additional school places for children with special educational needs. We will be looking at the proposals carefully to hep make sure that the investment means that children across the autism spectrum can get the right help and flourish" You can read the full article here http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/media-centre/news/st-christophers.aspx
Thank you for taking the time to read through this, what a great thing we could acheive if we save this school and protect the future of these most vunerable children and making sure there is provision in our country for children that will need it services in later years.
Source : articlesbase.com
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