It is 10 years this April since the launch of The Hesley Foundation, the charitable arm of the Hesley Group. Romanian students, children and adults are still benefiting from the generosity and goodwill of this charity, which started its work with an orphanage in Tatarai, Romania. Romanian care professionals are now being employed under contracts of two years at The Forum School, the Hesley Group’s school for children aged between 7 and 14 with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome. While working at the school, they gain invaluable experience in educating and caring for special needs children, and receive the induction and foundation training offered to all staff working at Hesley Group schools and colleges.

Elena Matache, 24, arrived at The Forum School in January with five other students from the Regina Maria Romanua College, Ploiesti, for their work experience placements. Although she goes back to Romania in April, she is hoping to gain a two-year contract after she completes her nursing degree. She says, “You can’t learn much in three months, so I want to come back. But I can’t wait to apply what I will have learnt here to my local orphanage in Romania. We have some autistic children there, but in Romania very little is known about working with them, so hopefully with my knowledge we can set up a special class just for them.”

Raluca Ion, 22, has already finished her nursing degree and was offered a role as a permanent member of staff after completing her work experience last year. She says, “I definitely want to go back to Romania in a couple of years to do this sort of work, because after my experience here I know I will be a valuable learning support worker.”

The effects of the charity are not limited to just the Romanian children however. David Keeton, deputy head at The Forum School, thinks that the placements from abroad benefit everyone. He says, “There are difficulties across the UK in the recruitment and retention of care staff, and so the Group looked overseas to fill some positions. The staff we have from Romania have settled in extremely well. Their English is very good and they all work wonderfully well with the children. Both the staff and the students are really benefiting from their work here.”

There are six permanent members of staff from Romania, and their employment means that the Forum has only one staff vacancy now. In addition there are six students working at The Forum School on work experience placements. Many of the permanent staff are medically trained professionals; along with Raluca, a qualified nurse, their numbers include a doctor, a psychologist and a psychiatrist.