M had a very challenging start in life which resulted in him being unable to attend mainstream school and missing key developmental social milestones. M was removed from his birth family three years ago at the age of eight when he came into our care.

M wasn’t able to socialise with others without becoming dysregulated and potentially putting them at risk and M was unable to participate in team games due to his need to be the best and always win in whatever way he could. We were told M would never be able to return to a mainstream setting due to his high emotional needs and him being very easily triggered and dysregulated.

About two years ago Redgate Sports started working with M on a Friday within school hours which we couldn’t be happier about. The hour spent weekly with M was to help him develop sporting skills, take part in sport while helping him to self-regulate even if things don’t go his way, be a team player and reinforce being ‘likeable’ in sports which is more valuable than being the best.

M has absolutely loved Redgate these last two years and Fridays were generally good days at school due to the Redgate activity. Much of what Redgate helped M with was and is transferrable in other areas of M’s life, including in school and other social environments. Redgate very quickly found some strengths in M and M himself quickly built trust in the Redgate team.

Today, M is two weeks into a new mainstream Secondary School. He’s in a class size of 30 and doing incredibly well – he has been recognised as a star pupil for the most positive behaviour points in his form and we have had various comments made about how polite, friendly, calm and caring he is – including from his PE teacher specifically saying M has excellent sportsmanship in PE! I am absolutely certain some of the success we are seeing today is because of Redgate’s involvement over the last two years.
We have been so happy and impressed with the work Redgate have done, M is also vocal and positive about his time with Redgate. We actively pursued that M’s new school bring Redgate on board to continue working with M throughout Secondary School, this has been agreed and we couldn’t be happier.

In addition to time at school, Redgate have offered occasional activity days away from school and sports camps during the holidays. We try and get M in as much as possible – again M’s only had positive experiences with this!
Thank you Redgate, we think you do a great job and have made such a big difference to M!

M’s Carer