Icknield is a very special school. The 70 children, from 3-19 years of age may have special needs in the form of severe learning difficulties but they are surrounded by special people who spend every day making each day special.

Local company Stannah have long been supporters of the school, contributing the whole amount the school had to raise from local business to successfully apply for Specialist Status from the Department for Children, Schools and Family (DCSF). The school now has ‘Cognitive & Learning’ Specialist Status which gives them additional funding of £300,000 in total over the next 3 years.

So when Icknield School Headteacher Sharon Ghiacy was asked if there was anything else Stannah could help the school with, via their staff volunteering scheme, Sharon pointed out ‘a very small problem’ in one area of the school playground.

The school had been given a storage cabin which stood in the corner of the playground but it extended right across the marked pathway that guided the childrenon bikes and scooters, on foot or in wheelchairs. If it could be turned just 90 degrees to stand alongside the track life would be that little bit easier for everyone.

Stannah Premises Maintenance Manager, Gary Woods, takes up the story:

‘I popped along to survey the site in October 2009 and realised this little problem may be growing. We considered all sorts of ways of keeping our promise but each time we came up against obstacles. Access was the first problem and then the cabin weighed in at 2.2 tons empty and 4 tons full, too heavy for our own vehicles. Then the snow fell and we began to think we’d never get the job done. Eventually we enlisted a Stannah supplier who, very kindly, was only too pleased to help us solve the problem.’

Father and son, Brian and Jim Bailey run Meon Valley Crane Hire and were due to do some work for Stannah in January. So, once the children had all left for the day the massive crane squeezed through the only gateway to the site and began the smooth turning of the cabin, making it look like a matchbox. The Stannah maintenance team did a little tree pruning to make room for the cabin’s new position and plenty of manual guiding of the suspended cabin to get it in the perfect place. 

Poignantly, the cabin revealed a lost teddy bear who became the symbol of the whole operation.

Icknield Deputy Headteacher Ruth Drewett watched the proceedings and was delighted with the results: ‘When I saw the size of the crane approaching I realised our small problem had definitely grown! We are so grateful to Stannah and Meon Valley Crane Hire. The playground circuit can now be used as it was intended and the children are absolutely delighted.’

Pictured:  The team that made the difference at Icknield School -

L to R:  Gary Woods (Maintenance Manager), Geoff Whatley(Maintenance Supervisor), Brian Bailey(Meon Valley Crane Hire), Ruth Drewett and the lost bear, Jim Bailey (Meon Valley Crane Hire), Steve Collins (Maintenance Team Leader), Derek Mitchell (Maintenance Operative) and Pete Mildenhall (Maintenance Operative).