00:00Fire and sawing the wood for fuel are all in a day's work for students at Undershore.
00:05They're taking part in forest school activities, giving them a break from lessons and teaching them new skills.
00:12We've been making eggy bread, which is quite fun. I like cooking in forest school.
00:17Because it's like quite a chill place where it's like an escape from lessons and there's like hot chocolate and we just get a bunch of treats and stuff really.
00:28Basically, yeah, chopping wood, like sawing off wood, splitting wood, so like Tim has enough wood for the fire.
00:38It's their domain. It's somewhere that's child-centred. They start here in Key Stage 2 and they learn the basic skills and as they work their way through the school, they work on more bushcraft, they make items like the sofa. It just becomes their special place.
00:56The school in Hindhead caters for children with special educational needs and takes students from year three.
01:03Most go on to do GCSEs and post-16 they have work experience opportunities, like here in a bike repair shop, helping them prepare for the future, a key feature in their recent Outstanding Ofsted report.
01:16We do have the end in sight. Whenever we create our curriculum, whenever we're working with the young people, whenever we're trying to create a bespoke provision, we're always thinking about what next for this young person.
01:28How do we make sure that they can be part of a community, part of society, see their place, feel part of the world around them and be employable so that they, in the future, can be independent and have their own income and live independently.
01:44Originally called Stepping Stones, the school was set up in a church building 20 years ago, by parents who were looking for the right education for their child.
01:54We looked at many schools in the area and it was at the time when they were trying to integrate children with any type of disabilities into mainstream and it just wasn't working and when they get to secondary school, it's much harder for them to keep up with everybody.
02:11So, we looked at schools and decided, let's start our own niche school, really.
02:17It quickly expanded and a new site was found, the former home of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories.
02:26But it was derelict, having stood empty for many years.
02:29The house was built in 1897 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his wife Louisa, who was suffering from tuberculosis.
02:37He thought the Surrey air here would be good for her.
02:39He named it Undershore, and that's the name that the school has retained until this day.
02:44An extension was added with modern classrooms and facilities, whilst still retaining many features of the listed building,
02:52including the stained glass window with the Conan Doyle family crests.
02:56On the plans shows this room to be the study of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
03:02and there is rumour that he may have written Hound of the Baskervilles or some of the other Sherlock Holmes stories in this very room.
03:10So, it's an exciting place to come to work every day, but I did have a Year 11 student who was reading Hound of the Baskervilles at the time
03:18and would frequently knock on my door and ask to come in and just sit in this room and read the book and feel kind of involved in the story.
03:27Ryland and Amelie are on the school council.
03:30They enjoy the responsibility it brings and having the space to learn at their own pace.
03:34I get to have a say in what happens around the school, and if my class doesn't like something that's going on,
03:43I can bring it up and we can think about how to change it.
03:46I enjoy all the lessons, like for a school, PE, science, maths.
03:51They're all just really relaxing, like you've got no pressure.
03:56Undershore started with two pupils and now there's around 100.
03:59The school prides itself on its history, the nurturing environment and preparing the students for life outside.
