The organisation also accommodates families who can’t afford the high price of many commercial respite-care schemes. Costs are kept low by raising funds to cover more than 50% of the cost of the annual holidays, and because all of the staff are volunteers.

Highfield and Brookham is blessed to be set in 175 acres of glorious South Downs National Park countryside and boasts wonderful facilities and academic success, but at the core of our school, and what makes our heart beat fastest, are the ethos and beliefs that makes us truly unique. We teach our pupils to give back and to be outward looking and never is this more tangible than during our extraordinary Highfield Highreach Holiday.

As well as on-site activities such as swimming, bushcraft, sensory play and art, the Highreach holidaymakers enjoy days out. Visits to exciting places such as Marwell Activity Centre near Winchester, Chessington World of Adventures and Littlehampton beach give the children and young adults the chance to shatter preconceptions of disability by happily completing a range of outdoor challenges, including navigating a high-ropes course, climbing wall and obstacle course. The week also gives families and carers of the holidaymakers the chance to gain valuable rest and reset. It gives them time to do things that others may take for granted. For example, one set of parents went on holiday for the first time in 20 years, another took their other children to the cinema and out for dinner.