On Friday, 19th January 2026, the Alderwasley Hall School senior management team and SENAD Group Directors welcomed John Whitby, MP for the Derbyshire Dales and Olivia Blake, MP for Sheffield Hallam and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for SEND.
As well as viewing the school’s facilities, the MPs spent time talking to several students, who shared their experience of mainstream settings, the impact of receiving a diagnosis and the difficulty their parents have experienced in trying to secure them a place at the school.
The young people gave a candid insight into how the environment, the highly personalised programmes, curriculum, as well as the support, care and guidance available at AHS have given them a chance to fulfil their academic, social and independence potential.
They also shared their aspirations for the future, their career ambitions and, most importantly, their desire to be happy. The students really valued the opportunity to talk directly to the MPs who they recognised as the people making decisions fundamental to their lives, and they expressed the importance of being heard at all levels of government. Thank you to them for giving an incredible reflection on the benefits of the Alderwasley Hall School and giving the visitors a real understanding of why schools like Alderwasley are needed.
We thank both Olivia and John for taking the time to visit and for Olivia’s kind offer to host students at Westminster, as well as Olivia’s invitation for a group of post-16 students to contribute to an APPG on Post-16 Education provision.