The Arrowsmith Program

WAYNE STAGG

Head of the Arrowsmith Program

A Speech from Open Day 

Hello my name is Will and I’m in my 3rd year of Arrowsmith.

Before Arrowsmith I found school very challenging. I found simple things hard, spelling small words was very difficult, it was hard to follow the teacher instructions in lessons and my mind easily wandered to other places quickly.  

When I started the program, I wasn’t completely sold it would help, but one day something just clicked. I went from looking at comic books pictures to a book that had 720 pages. My spelling improved and so has my pronunciation. I am able to remember things that were important from school that day and apply it to my work the next day. I could organise myself and my time better.

My teacher, who has known me since I began the program, tells me that I am able to focus on completing one task at a time, I am less distracted and more resilient. I used to quit easily and give up, but know I see it only as a setback, and a way to motivate me to keep going and do my best.

When I was thinking of what I was going to write it hit me, that after 3 years of the program I’d stopped thinking that my dyslexia was a disease that was going to ruin the rest of my life.  I realised that the reason I had come here was to open a new door so I could use my dyslexia as a strength, not a setback. Thinking about it, all the famous dyslexic people like Richard Branson and Albert Einstein, look what they were able to do without the Arrowsmith program. Imagine if they access to the program.  

I’m just glad that I was given the opportunity to change my brain to give me a better chance at life ahead and create more opportunities for me to succeed. I’m also quite excited,  but a little nervous to transition into mainstream and normal classes.

Written by Will Edgell, Arrowsmith Student