It has been my pleasure to be Chief Executive of Talbot House Children’s Charity since 2013.  I count myself extremely lucky to be able to work with our children, both in the school and our residential children’s home, to enhance their childhood experiences and prepare them for the transition into adulthood.   My career prior to coming to Talbot House was as an accountant in both the private sector and in the charitable sector, for many years as a Finance Director. 

Talbot House has been through a lot of change over the last 10 years.  It was difficult to stabilise the financial state of the organisation, which luckily, with my background I was able to do quite quickly.  Even harder than this, was the need to reinstate our reputation and change people’s perception that we were a ‘naughty boys’ school’, to a therapeutic organisation who were able to deal with children’s complex needs which include amongst others, ASD, ADHD, early childhood trauma, adverse childhood experiences and learning disabilities.  It was important that we were able to let the outside world see that we had a unique way of freeing up the potential in our children and nurturing their skills to help them succeed in life.  As we deal with all of the local authorities in the North East, and some in other areas of the country, we needed to communicate our vision to them and our passion for the outcomes we want for the children in our care.  As a charitable organisation, we do not have any shareholders so all of the surpluses are reinvested into Talbot House.  This has allowed us to make some substantial changes over the last 10 years.  We have developed a primary provision comprising of three specific teaching areas, new playgrounds, sports facilities and an outdoor gym along with redevelopment of the buildings including the children’s home, a new heating system and roof, to name a few. 

Our school usually has about 50 children over 4 main teaching areas.  We believe that children should be taught by stage not age, which enables them to progress at their own pace.  Chadersley, our children’s home is registered for up to 5 children at any one time.  There are extensive grounds, which  include 2 playgrounds, an allotment, a vocational skills centre/sports hall, sports fields and a wooded area.  The referrals for both school and Chaderlsey usually come from the local authority, however, we are seeing more and more parental and word of mouth referrals, in recent years.

You can read some of the history about the Talbot House journey on the About Us page and lots of information about the school and Chadersley on their pages.

The passion I feel for this organisation is immense, we really do change children’s lives, which could not happen without the dedication and passion of our staff, governors and trustees.  We are definitely a force to be reckoned with.