Welcome to Havenswood Trust

Building a future where every neurodivergent child and family can access the education, care and opportunities they need to thrive

Havenswood Trust is an independent charity committed to improving the lives of neurodivergent children and their families. Together with the national charity, Oasis Charitable Trust, we are building a pioneering, supportive village community in Scarborough, for children, young people and families from the coastal regions of North Yorkshire - a place where everyone can heal, re-adjust, thrive and belong.

At Havenswood, we are here for the children who are being left behind - those who are home educated through necessity rather than choice, those struggling to survive in school environments that do not meet their needs, and those who are becoming socially isolated, lonely and excluded from childhood itself.

We’re tackling the challenges so many children with SEND and their families have faced for too long, including poor or no access to suitable education, exclusion, social isolation, mental health struggles, and a system that can feel fragmented and hard to navigate.

The Disturbing Reality

What is happening to the growing numbers of neurodivergent children in this country is not a small gap in the system anymore - it is a full-scale failure of education, health and social support.

The reality is so shocking that most people would struggle to believe this is happening to children in the United Kingdom in 2026.

At Havenswood, we work with children as young as eight years old who are already struggling to access education - some have already been without formal teaching for three years. These are not children who “don’t want to or can’t learn.” Many are bright - some exceptionally so, creative, deeply thoughtful and academically able. But they cannot survive in environments that overwhelm their nervous systems, ignore their needs and force them to exist in a constant state of stress, anxiety and burnout. Mainstream schools are increasingly unable to cope, specialist placements are oversubscribed and local authorities regularly have no alternative place of education to offer where needs can be met. The result is that children are left trapped at home with only a few hours of education a week in an additional provision facility - or none at all.

We are seeing children who are clinically depressed before they even reach secondary school, children who say they no longer want to be alive, children isolated from friendships, community and childhood itself. Lonely and sad, many retreat into gaming and online platforms, spending hours on a screen because it’s the only place they feel safe, successful or connected.

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) waiting lists now often stretch to two or even three years. Because of a shortage of NHS psychologists, many children remain for years without a formal diagnosis, without appropriate therapeutic support and without access to the medication that could help regulate their symptoms, reduce anxiety or simply allow them to sleep through the night. By the time they reach us, many are lonely, isolated, exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed - children who have lost friendships, confidence and, far too often, hope.

Their lives and the lives of their parents are a constant, relentless battle, often with no resolution or end in sight.

Behind every child is a family in crisis: exhausted parents forced to give up careers to care for children who cannot access school, families forced into inappropriate home education because there is literally no alternative, parents struggling financially, emotionally and mentally under impossible pressure. Many parents are themselves experiencing depression, breakdown and regular suicidal thoughts.

These are not isolated cases. This is happening quietly in communities across the country, and most people have absolutely no idea how many children and families are living through this crisis every single day.

These children are falling through gaps so large they are disappearing altogether, and unless society starts facing the reality of what is happening, an entire generation of neurodivergent young people - and generations to come will continue to be failed, traumatised and left behind. The situation is particularly challenging in Scarborough and across our coastal communities. Until the government and wider education system are able to revolutionise teaching and create mainstream schools that genuinely support different needs, learning styles and ways of experiencing the world, we cannot continue to wait while children struggle. We need to act now.

This problem school exclusion was described in a research paper published in the SAGE Journals (2023) as a worrying trend and…

‍ ‍“a major societal problem, with a range of potential adverse long-term consequences.”

We are sitting on a ticking time bomb whose consequences will not only affect neurodivergent children and their families, but society as a whole, years into the future if urgent action is not taken.

“ It takes a Village to raise a Child”

We need to work together to make this better!