20th February 2025
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New school prospectus
14th June 2024
Closeburn House to me…
Read the different a place has made to one of our young people, in her own words…
Being at Closeburn house for me, has been a difficult journey but I have come out of it stronger and more successful than I ever thought I could be. All of us young people here have come to Closeburn House under less-than-ideal circumstances, but the nurturing environment here helps us thrive and learn to cope with our weaknesses. The common misconception of holistic teaching strategies and our personalised lessons at Closeburn is that it holds back our education and effects our dedication and focus on academic values, but I am proof that that is not true.
My story
In primary school I struggled with others like every child and my issues were dismissed as ‘she’ll grow out of it’ but the transition to high school following difficult personal circumstances forced me to mask and conform to the norm as shown by the other 300+ kids in my year. This pushed me into a role of people pleasing and mirroring my peers decisions at the time. I didn’t know but my autism was affecting my ability to sense danger and self-preservation, this caused me to make reckless decisions to fit in and fall into substance misuse and other dangers whilst this was happening my attendance was dropping at school and I was finding it hard to get out of bed every day. I chalked it up to anxiety, but I was really just exhausted of masking and coping with the chaos of school. As my attendance got worse and worse, I was led into the dangerous lifestyles that I saw, because my lack of social contact meant I was reaching out to others that also were not in school which consisted of older people. Eventually my school attendance got so low, that I was referred to a learning centre to help me get back into school. However, I struggled to attend there as well. After my social issues lead to traumatic experiences and my mental health declined drastically me and my support system were at a loss. After an emergency, I was referred to Closeburn House. Being here has helped me have space to improve my social skills, coping mechanisms and academic level without the overwhelming factors a large school and instability that home/social life gave.
What I have achieved
Within the first 3 months of me being at Closeburn, I began attending school daily and working on my routines and sleep hygiene. This allowed me to sit my National 5 History and Higher English after being out of school for over 3 years. After completing three other National 5 qualifications, I am now prepping to move on to supported living with work experience references, a level 2 food hygiene course, independent cooking and travelling skills and more under my belt. I have gained priceless experience whilst here and will always be thankful to Closeburn for giving me a space to achieve success to my full potential and helping me learn what works best for me going forward.
I believe Closeburn has given me a strong positive start to adult life and/or higher education and I want to prove to the world that an Autistic individual can be social, empathetic, caring as well as intelligent, ambitious, and analytical. When asked to write a case study describing my time at Closeburn, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to thank everyone here for helping me through an extremely dark time and helping me grow and do things I never thought I’d be able to do.
Thank you, Miss Goodman for pushing me to do my best.
Thank you, Miss Harkness, for being there for me to rant to and helping me stay grounded.
Thank you, Mr Bennett, for always teaching me new things and making me laugh.
Thank you, Miss Craig for always brightening my day and making me feel loved.
Thank you, Miss Hall for helping me achieve amazing things.
Thank you, Miss Lewis, for helping me learn to laugh at myself and be a strong woman.
Thank you, Miss Shields, for just being there to help.
Thank you, Mrs McDonald, for giving me opportunities to succeed.
Thank you, Mr Docherty, for guiding me in my early days here you always be remembered.
Thank you, Miss Viljoen, for helping me sit my first higher!
Thank you, Julie, and Grace, for making everything possible.
Thank you to the wonderful care staff team.
Thank you Rosie the therapy dog for being adorable.
Thank you, Georgia, for spell checking this for me.
Martha, Young Person at Closeburn House