Duchess of Cambridge opens school in London

On May 1, the Duchess of Cambridge opened the Pears Family School, which is being part of the North London Anna Freud Centre of which she is patron.

Kate met children at the school, including a thirteen-year-old who rapped a poem to her about losing his mother at the young age of nine. Leo struggled with his behaviour because of his mother’s death, and was expelled from mainstream school, resulting in his attendance at the Pears Family School, which specialises in children with emotional and behavioural issues.

Families are also supported at the school and are taught how to cope with their children’s behaviour at home. Often such issues are the result of trauma experienced as a young child, as was the case of Amy Mary Rose Herring, who is now twenty-two though suffered from years of sexual abuse growing up. As a result, she was diagnosed with PTSD which has resulted in exclusions from school and suicide attempts.

The school was running on a temporary site though is now in a permanent building and is set to have 48 places for children aged 5 – 13. During the first four years of the school’s founding, 60% of its pupils were able to return to mainstream education and the charity has been so successful that it is collaborating with similar projects in other parts of England in aim to set up similar schools across the country.

The Duchess has been Patron of @AFNCCF since 2016, which reaches over 1m+ children in schools to try and reduce the burden of mental health difficulties children can face. pic.twitter.com/mcOXXB8GIH

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 1, 2019

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