About Bloom

Rachel Peregrine, Bloom Founder:

​

“I have worked as a teacher in Bristol for 17 years and been a senior leader in schools for 14 years. I have been a  SENCO for an inner-city primary in Bristol and an Inclusion Lead for a Multi-Academy Trust. I have experience of planning and implementing high quality SEND provision within schools; developing SEND strategy at a MAT level across a number of schools; SEND school improvement; development of post-Ofsted Rapid Action Plans for SEND; supporting new SENCOs; training for MATs, teachers, teaching assistants and governors; setting up specialist resource bases. 

​

“I live in Horfield with my husband and have two children who are both at school in Bristol. My experience of working with children, parents, other teachers and health and social-care professionals has shown me that the vast majority of the time, everyone wants the same thing: for every child to be given the best chance to flourish, thrive and achieve their potential. This is my passion too, and it is the reason why I founded Bloom.

​

“Too often for parents and children, the reality of SEND provision does not live up to the ideal that schools and other services want to provide. Navigating education and healthcare systems can be hard, a challenge made more difficult when understanding of a child’s condition is limited, often informed by word of mouth or internet searches.

​

“For schools, repeated pressures on budgets mean that SEND provision is increasingly less well resourced, with already thin resources being spread across a number of sites. Most heads and teachers are aware of this and wish it was not the case. 

​

“Bloom gives me the opportunity to support schools, parents and professionals to deliver a provision that will give a child the best opportunity to thrive and flourish. I have extensive experience of working with a range of professionals to ensure that each child is given the expert support that they need to enable them to access learning.  I have also worked closely with alternative learning providers and specialist educational settings.

​

“Partnership working is at the heart of my practise, but the children themselves are always my starting point. Their voice must be at the centre of decisions made around their educational support.

​

“Having the right interventions and support in place at the earliest age possible clearly makes a difference to a child’s education, but I am driven by the belief that it does so much more than that. When a child is properly understood, with tailored support around them, the benefits are seen in their home life, their friendships, their physical health and their mental health. It enables every child to flourish and thrive.”