our story

Our journey toward Fable House began through working with two students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), both diagnosed with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), specifically providing maths tuition. It quickly became clear that these students needed something different to traditional tutoring methods and so we began exploring learning mathematics though practical projects based around the students interests. Along the way we realised there was an opportunity to widen our offer and bring in a range of qualifications that the students could explore with us through projects and portfolios. We joined Open Awards and began developing our curriculum for those students.

As more students joined us, we needed additional staff and space. We moved into a larger room within the Brooke’s mill complex and started expanding our team of dedicated professionals. Still working with Open Awards we offered bespoke and individualised courses with students being supported on a 1:1 or 2:1 basis to explore the curriculum through projects based around their interests. Quickly we needed more space and so collected some more rooms within the mill.

As we grew we recognised the need for full-time placements, which we could not offer without OFSTED registration. Our landlord asked what we needed to achieve this and we explained we needed our own building. Generously, the landlord offered to renovate a building on the mill site exclusively for us.

As our initial students completed a range of qualifications we thought about next steps for those students. After speaking with Open Awards we developed a bespoke Access to Higher Education course from the units within the Open Awards offer. We began delivering this course in Autumn 2022 to our first cohort.

We worked closely with the landlord to design a provision that met all our students' needs, focusing on spaces that encourage expression through creativity in art, music, cooking, ICT, and more. We also involved the students in the planning process to ensure their voices were heard.

We got an allotment on the wider site and began using this for outdoor learning and continued to take our students out into the wider community to access interesting days out and novel learning experiences.

As the building was renovated we involved all the staff and students in preparing for the transition to our new home, with lots of visits and opportunities to see the build develop.

During this time we also expanded out offer to include Functional Skills Math and English – our first exam based qualifications.

After a year of renovation, we moved into our purpose-built, four-floor building in April 2024. It features a hair and beauty room, an art and design studio, a home kitchen for life skills development, sensory swing integration, and ample space to accommodate up to 30 students comfortably. The space is great and exactly what our students needed. They all embraced the move and began making full use of the new space.

The students on Access to HE completed their course and both were successful in being offered places at university. We were very proud and decided to develop another course for our next cohort who are ready for that step with the course likely starting January 2025.

We have continued to develop our curriculum offer, working closely with Open Awards to create bespoke programmes that will work for our students, offering lots of opportunity to develop a broad and balanced learning experience that meets their individual needs. Our curriculum focuses on helping our students be happy, healthy and as independent as possible and allows opportunity for flexibility and autonomy.

We were invited to share our experiences and knowledge around tailoring a personalised curriculum to the Open Awards SEND forum. This was a very successful event, inspiring other provisions along the way.

We have applied to Ofsted to register an independent school to provide full-time places for a small number of students. Each student will follow a bespoke curriculum, based on their learning profiles, needs and abilities. Following a successful registration process we aim to recruit students from Spring 2026