One of the greatest gifts my special school placement gave me was a completely new understanding of what growth can look like.
Before stepping into a special school, I thought progress was something you measured over months or even years. Instead, I found myself celebrating changes that happened in days. A child who had never joined a group activity chose to sit beside a friend. A student who found communication incredibly difficult found a new way to express their needs. Someone who once hesitated to try picked up the pencil anyway.
Those moments may seem small from the outside, but they are anything but small.
I learnt that when children are genuinely seen, understood, and supported in ways that honour who they are, incredible things begin to happen. Not because they are expected to fit into one way of learning, but because learning gently meets them where they are.
It also reminded me that growth isn't a race between classrooms or school settings. Every child learns differently, and every environment has its own strengths. But in my experience, the individualised support and deep understanding I witnessed in a special school allowed me to see progress in a way I had never noticed before.
That experience has stayed with me ever since.
It changed the way I celebrate children. It changed the way I define success. Most of all, it reminded me that some of the biggest milestones are the ones the world never sees.
Here's to celebrating every brave step, every quiet victory, and every child exactly as they are. 🤍
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