But by the age of 13, I was in complete burnout from school and was forced to leave full time education – something that shocked all who knew me.
Feeling lost, confused, exhausted, and isolated, I spent my GCSE years following a very unconventional education experience, mainly educating myself at home, spending a small amount of time in a Pupil Referral Unit, attending the school I was registered at for just two subjects when I could cope with it, and attending night college once a week, with the support of my mother, to obtain one extra GCSE.
My teenage years were spent completing a messy and disjointed education set-up with my needs continuing to go unmet as no appropriate provision existed for me, nor were my needs being recognised or supported.
I fell into the ‘lost generation’ category where neurodivergent girls were overlooked, misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and sadly, left to try and navigate their way through an inappropriate school system, designed without individuals like me in mind. There was no enjoyment or excelling in any area during this time – I was simply surviving and waiting to escape the torture I was experiencing from the ‘one size fits all’ system.
Moving on to higher education and entering work, I started to have greater awareness of my true self. Still lacking the appropriate guidance, diagnosis, or intervention, I was left to navigate life’s challenges by learning through experiences, entering burnout, recovering – and repeating the cycle!
With a passion to work with young people and have a positive influence upon future generations, I qualified as a teacher in 2013 and experienced both small village schools and large settings with 3-form entry. I was intrigued to see how the experiences would affect me and, at the same time as making a positive difference, see if I could grasp a better understanding of what went so wrong for myself during my own school years. And yes – there we had – it finally all made sense.
The fast-paced nature of the education system, the inflexibility of the curriculum, the lack of nurture, the conformity expectations, the school image priority, the academic progress pressure, the lack of individuality and autonomy, the immense pressure of teachers, the missed additional needs… I could see and feel it all. It was soul destroying.
From 2013, in the midst of working as a teacher, I could see how broken the education system was and how little had changed since my own school years. It wasn’t long before the 70-hour weeks left me burnt out again!
Shifting my focus to working in a specialist provision helped to restore some of my faith back into the education system. It was like setting foot into a completely different arena.
Supporting students to access school, engage with learning, develop pride in their abilities, become more self-aware, train teaching staff, support teaching and learning development across the school for 7-19 year olds, and project managing the formation of a new lower school facility designed to support additional needs were all part of a professional development journey that helped shape my outlook.
It was when I was observed myself as a teacher and compared to the ‘Pied Piper,’ I was able to appreciate that my abilities surpassed delivering outstanding lessons and, more importantly, were routed with connection and compassion which captivated even the most reluctant learners or those who had missed excessive education. My ability to draw students into discovery, ignite curiosity, foster individuality, and inspire a genuine desire for learning results from first-hand experience of seeking nurture and empathy within an accessible learning experience – something that was unavailable to me during my own school years.
Going on to have my own child with additional needs, has now enabled me to experience all perspectives, having first-hand experience as: a neurodivergent student myself; as a teacher; and as a SEND mum. I am now utlising the knowledge and experience I have gained to explore valuable, meaningful change to make education inclusive the way it should be. An outdated system will never support and include a modern society and I will continue to advocate to see this must needed change.
The Art of Inclusion aims to support families and schools to develop their inclusivity. It helps to identify needs, explore strategies, and demonstrate necessary reasonable adjustments to ensure all young people are thriving within education and not merely surviving it. An education system designed for neurotypical students excludes many – an education system designed for neurodivergent students includes everyone!
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Jade Berrow-Hill, © 2025 Website By Emily Walker
