Local school opens new satellite centre

Solihull Chamber of Commerce have sponsored Forest Oak School in this years Greener School Awards, in which the school has been awarded a prize.

Forest Oak School is a special school catering for children and young people with Special Educational Needs. They cater for young people with moderate learning difficulties and some may have additional needs such as autism, ADHD, Downs Syndrome, cerebral palsy and global learning display. Pupils can also have a range of complex medical needs including diabetes and epilepsy.

The school has had an exciting year, including the recent opening of their new satellite centre, Oakwood. The site was originally a children’s centre and was bought by Solihull Council early in 2023 for Forest Oak pupils. It has since been refurbished and fully equipped to provide the very best opportunities for Forest Oak pupils.

Samantha Frampton, head of Solihull Chamber of Commerce, visited the site opening to present the school with their prize. She said: “I am delighted to have been asked again to be a Business Champion and sponsor for this year’s Solihull Greener School awards on behalf of Solihull Chamber.

“It is my pleasure to award Forest Oak school with the Solihull Chamber prize. It is wonderful to see the ongoing hard work and commitment that the school put into achieving level 1 and level 2, especially since re-starting the Eco Team in January this year. Forest Oak are very worthy winners of the awards.

“It is inspiring to read all about how the pupils have embraced being part of the Eco Team and are helping to raise the awareness (Eco display board) as well as encouraging fellow pupils who have ECO responsibilities (checking that unnecessary lights are turned off).

“I especially enjoyed reading all about the campaigns that they have ran throughout the year which the whole school take part in - ASDAN Challenge, Switch off Fortnight and Great Big School Spring Clean.

“The Greener School awards align themselves perfectly with what we in Solihull and the wider Chamber are trying to achieve within the business community.

“The Chamber is heavily involved in supporting businesses across the West Midlands in their own journey towards more sustainable business practices and recently hosted a Sustainability speaker event in Solihull which followed on from the Sustainable Business conference. All helping to increase awareness and stimulate action on achieving net zero targets.

“Congratulations again to Forest Oak school on their achievements.”

Janis Smith, Forest Oak School, said: “We are a small group as we only started back up last year. Pupils are from various classes in KS3 and KS4 and are changed every year. This group are part of the 2022/2023 ECO team. We are going to use the prize towards sprucing up the outside area of our new KS4 Oakwood Centre, which was officially opened recently. We are really looking forward to settling in properly and are excited for what is to come in future years for Forest Oak KS4 Oakwood pupils.”

Pictured (L-R): Mayor of Solihull Diana Holl-Allen MBE, Principal Donna Luck, Eco-Leader Janis Smith and Samantha Frampton