Alumni

Ella’s Speech from the Fortis Trust Certificate Presentation Awards Evening | Thursday 13th November 2025

Hi everyone, my name is Ella, I had the incredible opportunity to be one of your Head Students for 2024 -2025.

My journey at Bradfield’s first began when I started as a somewhat scared Year 7 student.  I had attended a mainstream school before. I strongly believed that I was the slowest learner and never the one to be picked to be head of any teams I lacked confidence and belief in myself and I didn’t understand my own strengths or what I now call my superpowers I wanted to blend in with the background I was verry shy and I never would have spoken in front of anyone not even my own family and I would be the last one to hold up my hand in class and share my ideas I did feel broken . I started Bradfields in September 2018, and becoming part of the Bradfields family, as I call it, changed my future for the bes,t and I will be eternally grateful for that.

Whilst at Bradfields, I discovered that I actually did have many talents I could achieve in all of my lessons, it just took the incredible skills and patience from all of the staf,f and then adapting the curriculum so that I finally could understand and make the progress that I had always been lacking in.

I made an army of friends as well, friends that I still have now. On September 29th of 2019 I got the opportunity to be lead student this was one of the first big achievements I had gotten I was so happy to get this role as I felt like I had people believe in me and for once I finally felt that I was going to get far in life this was a big step into my Bradfield’s journey I was able to help out in lots of different ways like attending an afternoon tea.

I also got to help other students out which was a big thing for me as that has been my dream since I was a little girl I loved this role so much I even was in a show case which was the Wizard of Ozz,  I never thought I would be capable of this, so thank you to Mr Hughes and Mr Newlin for giving me this opportunity.

In November 2019, unexpectedly, my best friend, my grandad, passed away. This news broke me as I was only 12 years old, and he was a big role model to me.

A couple of weeks before his funeral, I was asked if I wanted to say anything at his funeral, and I said I would love to learn to sign a song for him, so that is what I did. With the help of one of the amazing TAs, I learned to sign ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perry.

I chose this song because it has a lot of meaningful words, in that are true. I learnt this 6 years ago, and still to this day I remember every little detail of it, as it is not just a dedication to my grandad but because I had the help and support to learn it, and school understood just how important this was to me.

Then, during my time as a lead student Covid hit and many of us were forced into staying at home to keep ourselves safe. I missed being in the Bradfields community, but I joined the online lessons and longed for the day that I would be back in school with my friends and teachers again.

I then went into year 10 were my confidence started to slowly build up I started to really suffer with one of my hidden disabilities, chronic pain or as many of you might understand it as Fibromyalgia,  which most people don’t known I have because I have learned to mask it so that no one would worry and so that people wouldn’t think that I was weak it has been a really hard time with this as not even the doctors would believe that I had it a lot of the time I was told that It was just growing pain or there was nothing that they could do for me. I am 18 years old and still living with it every single day. Teachers and students slowly started to notice that something was wrong, as sometimes I came in with my arm in a sling or a bandages round my wrists or a walking stick, but I didn’t really use it as I was very insecure about it.

I started to get really self-conscious because I thought that no one would understand this took a lot of confidence out of me for a very long time I then stopped joining in with PE because I thought it was getting to much but I had an amazing PE teacher Mr Tulet who always made sure I could join in by adapting it to how I would be able to do it and not end up in so much pain this made me feel so happy because I could do what I could and Mr Tulet understood that I don’t always have good days he would let me sit out or even just keep the scores up on the bord this was life changing for me as I didn’t have to worry about faking being ok I had never believed Somone would be this understanding with me so I thank you Mr Tulet it may just of been something small to someone else but to me it was a massive thing.

There have been lots of different teachers I have had that have helped me in so many way,s even if it was just checking up on me to see how I was doing. Like Mr Seals always making our lessons fu,n joking about how I named my files # computering instead of the work name or file 25,

Miss Ado, who helped me in maths, I never felt confident in maths as it takes me a long time to get a subject, but you helped me slowly learn how to get it. Thank you as well.

Thank you to Miss Fernanders and Miss Knot for giving me the opportunity to be head student it has been such a life changing experience I have done so many thing since I got this role like getting work experience I worked in a charity shop for about a year and a half which I would of never thought I would of done on my own I even got a job in the summer last year where I got paid, I Loved it so much but unfortunately it had to close down I then searched for weeks to find I new work experience but I was very hard to find one that had animals.

We then had an idea of me working in school and I got the opportunity to work in DT with Mr Walker, What an amazing teacher you are Mr Walker not only did I get to work with you but I also had lessons with you I learned so much and made so many new friends it was a pleasure working with you thank you for doing that. I also got over my fear of talking in front of the whole school for the Christmas show it was so scary for me as I have never liked talking in front of people but I did it and now hear I am talking to you all today never in a million years would little year 7 or even year 11 me be thinking I would be doing this.

Thank you to Mr Craig for not only being my English teacher but also my form teacher this year,

On my first day of being in your form, I was so nervous as it was a big change as I had never been taught by you before, and I was also with different students, but what a year it was.

I loved every day of it. Thank you for always being there for me and understanding about my disability. You helped me so much, and I will always remember you for your kind words, reassurance and belief in me.

Thank you for making my last day so memorable, even though I did prank you a lot, like hiding little ducks all around your room, but my favourite part was making you shine like the star you are by decorating your head with Diamonds.

Thank you also to the medical team who helped me out when I was ill or just to remind me to take my daily meds, lastly I want to say a massive thank you to someone very close to my heart Miss Hall from the day I met you in year 7 I knew that we would get Along so well and that is exactly what happened you taught me how to draw and let me go as crazy as I wanted to with my art work it wasn’t until year 11 when I decided I wanted to make a human cake which had fingers and human hearts on and then from that day I stared to draw more artwork based on anatomy,

Little did I know that was how I was expressing how I truly felt I didn’t know that but you where the one to notice I remember one day we were writing about my portrait and you said Ella if we look at all your artwork together can you see or think about anything and I said no not really other than it’s not pretty unicorns or colours anymore and you said how do you feel when you look at this and I said I feel like I’m expressing how I feel but not with words but with art and that is exactly what was going on in my artwork from that day on I decided I would dedicated my artwork to show how I feel and how my disability often takes over my life.

Art became my therapy, my sanctuary, my safe place where all of my emotions could spill into my work and take my mind away from my chronic pain. Art makes me feel free to be me and express my true feelings.

My last art piece was by far my favourite and most important, I decided to do a whole portrait of my body which I then started to add small lines in which then turned into all the way over it, with little individual lines we then added tea to make the skeleton look like an old scroll and the last thing we did was add red ink round the outside and then added wood at the end to hang it up,

I would of never been able to show how I really feel if you didn’t come up with this idea I now have found my way of communicating how I feel through art and I will carry on doing this for the rest of my life thank you for everything you have done for me and for showing me it’s ok to not be ok you are an amazing teacher and I don’t think there will ever be an art teacher just like you, I miss your lessons so much but am still carrying on with it,

I am now chasing my dream to work with animals like I have always wanted to do. Last year, I said to my mum I’m not ready to go to college, I’m staying on one for the last year at Bradfields,  but I woke up one day and said to my mum I think I’m ready to go to college and follow my dream.

I was so scared I wouldn’t get where I wanted to get, but Miss Hall, a sentence you said to me, was, if you really want it, chase it and never give up. Here I am now at college studying level 1 animal care,

I didn’t choose to leave Bradfield’s because I had had enough; I chose to leave to follow my dreams.

I am forever grateful I got to experience such a wonderful school. For anyone worried about showing their true self, never give up because you will get to where you want to it just takes time, dedication and the wonderful staff at Bradfields believing in you.

Thank you for your time. Have a wonderful evening, and thank you for everything. I will miss not only the school but all of you teachers for helping me become the person I am today.

My parents are so proud of me and all that I have achieved. I am so proud of me too,

I hope you all have a wonderful evening celebrating your achievements

Transcript from interview, available below.

My name is Edward Adriano, I am 24 years old, and I study a master’s degree in physiotherapy at the University of Brighton. I have a degree in sport and exercise science at University of Brighton, and I decided to stay at that university where I picked up hobbies, such as dance as well. I started to learn more about different societies and just kind of becoming more open-minded as well.

So, I volunteer with the university for open days, applicant days, go to different schools and talking about my student life, and those are the things I like doing.

I attended Bradfields in 2011. I stayed for five years. I left in 2016 after Year 11.  I did a course in performing arts at MidKent College. I did it for a year.  I enjoyed it at Bradfields so decided to carry it on. But the adjustment from school to college was a bit too much for me.

So, because of my love for sport, I decided to change courses to do sport, to eventually doing sport science at the same college. [I] ended up with an extended diploma, and then I decided to apply for university.  I had five offers and then I chose to go to the University of Brighton.

The adjustment was quite big, especially living by yourself by shared like a flat with six strangers.  And I did become friends with them eventually, and I started opening up more, because it was Covid year, I did spend more time with them than anyone else.

That journey was, I think it was it was a hard journey. I was quite homesick for a long time.  That was just my first year, but I did pass my first year eventually.

Second year, it was a bit of an up and down year.  I lost someone quite close to me.  I had to take a month off university for that.  That was one of the hardest things I had to go through at this point.  Especially because he was my childhood best friend, and it was it was a tough adjustment, but eventually, I used that to motivate myself to finish my second year.  And then that’s when I decided that I wanted to do physiotherapy, because I enjoyed not only just the sport side of it, but the health side as well.

[In] my final year, I applied for 15 different universities to do a master’s degree, three came back and one of them was the University of Brighton. So, I accepted the offer.  I had to wait four months for it, but it was worth it in the end.  [I] did my final project and was able to go on an expedition in Wales with my university. [I] don’t recommend, it was windy. It was muddy.  It wasn’t great.  [The] altitude was quite high.  [I] couldn’t then breathe half the time.

And then for my final project, I was able to dunk people in cold water for my dissertation.  I looked at reaction time before and after cold water immersion, and I got a B in that.

I graduated with a 2:1 in sport and exercise science.

I started my master’s in 2023, straight after graduation.

The adjustment between undergrad and master’s was extremely high.  It wasn’t going smoothly in the first semester.  I went on placement. to do a placement in intermediate care.  So that is looking at people that are not quite ready for discharge.  So, we did a bit of stair work, strength work and we did a bit of walking as well.

Things start to go downhill after when my personal life took a hit, and because of that I couldn’t focus on my masters. I started failing everything, and because of that, I decided to repeat the year.  It was the best decision I made.  Because of that, I found confidence in not just myself, but I’m using that confidence to help other people as well.  I started to realise what they started wanting.  So, I used that advantage to then pass everything with ease now.

I plan to work in NHS as a physiotherapist, because what I’ve learned from being here [Bradfields] and getting the support that I got, I want to make sure that people with like cerebral palsy, autism, ADHD; making sure that they get the support that I got and that’s what I want to work on, and that’s what I want to become.

I want to become [a] paediatric physiotherapist just to ensure that every child has the same opportunities I have.  Just taking part in drama, performing arts at Bradfields built my confidence up to the point where I was so confident that I can take that to college and just start adapting to it.

From Bradfields to college is not easy.  But because of the confidence that I built from [Bradfields], I was able to take it with me to college.

So, a lot of a lot of teachers have inspired me to build my confidence and being able to adapt to things with ease, especially in performing arts and drama.  And the 1:1’s is really helped as well.

I do think [for] the TAs, it is incredibly difficult to help someone, especially if they find it difficult to understand it at first.

I do thank every single teacher that has been at Bradfields at my time, whether they’re still here now or they’ve left to do other things.

I still thank them for being where I am today.