A great clip of Jamie riding his new bike. It had been a lot of hard work to get to this point, with many years on stabilisers, using a tag-along and even running alongside him as he tried to balance! Now at last he was there, and a new era had begun.

2011 was the most difficult year so far in terms of securing Jamie’s future education. With government cutbacks to implement, Education Authorities became much more aggressive in their pursuit of children with SEN, relentlessly attacking their support to make short-term savings regardless of the long-term damage. During the lengthy and exhausting “process”, Jamie moved to Moreton Hall Preparatory School where he made an excellent start.

April:        Completes mile circular walk at Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, going

                   over The Pinnacles, the highest point in the Mendips

May:         Gets a new bike

June:           Completes Grade 3 Double Bass exam with Merit

July:            Completes Year 4 at Dame Bradbury’s with the following National

                    Curriculum attainments: Reading-NC3a Writing-NC3A, Maths

                    NC3A, Science-NC3B

August:      Great hillwalking holiday in Yorkshire, Jamie completes 3-5 mile

                    walks in beautiful scenery, unfazed by the variable weather!

                   

                    New Autonomic Test at Breakspear reveals abnormal neuronal

                    firing in the brain (ASBA score of 30 compared to reference

                    range 5-10): likely to be caused by irritation of brain stem by

                    infection and/or inflammation

October:    Jamie and Dad walked to the top of Glastonbury Tor, Somerset, on

                    Jamie’s birthday

November:    Begins Moreton Hall Preparatory School at half-term

                        Passes Grade 5 Jazz Piano Exam with Distinction

                        Starts on drug pregabelin to damp down neuronal misfiring

December:    Plays organ on BBC Radio Suffolk as teacher is interviewed