It is always nice to share a ‘good news’ story……

And there was certainly a warm glow – a feeling of something really clicking into place –  on Wednesday as Greenacre School welcomed its very first speaker from Lifetime’s Barnsley Businesses Inspiring Students project.

After an initial trial at Horizon Community College, our ‘BBIS’ venture is now being used by other schools in the borough – and Greenacre were delighted to take up the opportunity.

Their first ‘BBIS’ speaker was Amanda Heenan (pictured below) – and both she and the students had a fantastic time!

When trying to define herself, Amanda came up with the following:

‘A good friend’
‘Never one to travel a straight path to anywhere’
‘Passionate and dedicated’
‘Having physical limitations has had no impact on my ability to achieve and has helped me to explore what can be achieved and understood whatever your ability’
‘On the path to exploring my soul journey and learning how we are all connected – and using this understanding to have a positive impact’

After her talk, Amanda said: “I would really like to thank Andrew from Lifetime for facilitating this. I really enjoyed my session with the students, and their amazing teacher Harry.

“After I had ‘told my story’, we explored the skills students wanted to develop and what barriers there might be, and creative ways of overcoming these barriers. The students had some brilliant ideas and I look forward to following their progress.

“It was a wonderful experience, thank you!”

• Greenacre is a special school educating children and young people aged 3 – 19 with severe and complex needs. They moved into a superb new building in September 2011; were judged by OFSTED to be ‘Outstanding’ and designated as a National Support School in 2013; and converted to Multi-Academy Trust status in April 2015.
• Another one of the BBIS speakers, Barnsley Football Club chief executive, is delivering a talk to students of Horizon Community College on Friday, December 4.