Elysium Healthcare are a huge private company who mostly have mental health care clinics or facilities. 

They also have 4 schools which they own and run.

One of the schools is called Crossley Manor in Rainhill, Merseyside. It is a school for children with special educational needs, social, emotional and mental health issues, as well as conditions such as Autism, ADHD, ODD, PDA etc. 

Crossley manor school has provided a vital provision for pupils with special educational needs, most of them very complex. The children who attend the school have been out of education for up to two years before their placement at Crossley Manor school, due to their former provisions not being suitable and failing to meet their needs.

This has caused many psychological difficulties for the children due to feeling rejected and unwanted by their past experiences. 

Since attending Crossley Manor school, all of the children have been able to gain confidence and have learned to trust people enough to let them close and confide in. They've made incredible leaps in their ability to form friendships and are all making achievements academically. Some of the children were unable to read or write before their placement, now they can. They are thriving. 

The work of the staff team is second to none and all of the children have responded to well to the level of care and support with the dedication of the staff. 

I cannot stress how much this provision means to the children and how far they have come thanks to the staff supporting them. 

Unfortunately, on June 17th this year, parents were shocked to receive a phone call from the school proprietor, to announce the board of directors at Elysium Healthcare have decided to close the school on July 24th this year.

Elysium Healthcare cited insufficient pupil numbers making the school financially unviable, despite there being a huge demand for a provision such as Crossley Manor school in the Borough of St Helens and neighbouring boroughs. 

The school was never very well advertised, as such many parents of children with additional and complex needs have been unaware of its existence. There is very little information on the Internet about Crossley Manor. This means parents wouldn't ask for this to be their preferred choice, when requesting placements for their children and the local authorities who fund the placements would be unable to send children to the school.

Had Elysium Healthcare run a better advertising campaign, there would have been an influx of parents wanting to send their children to Crossley Manor school, as most local provisions are already at capacity or don't have the facilities to meet the needs of children such as those already in the school. 

Other school group providers have approached Elysium Healthcare offering support and to potentially take over the school, with a view to keep the children and staff together and build the school up to what it should be. 

Had the reason of not being financially viable been truthful, Elysium would have considered these offers and agreed to a takeover, for the sake of the children who attend, if nothing else. 

Instead, they've refused any discussion or negotiations and are not interested in selling the site. They have stated that the running costs, repair and maintenance of the building being very high and unsustainable to run ad a school, yet they would like to use it as offices instead. 

I'm asking people to please sign this petition and support the parents trying to save this school from closing. Elysium Healthcare are a huge company and could easily continue to keep the school open - they simply don't want to. They could also easily let another provider keep the school open, again, they don't want to. 

The children are being massively impacted by this closure, it is having a severe effect on their mental health and self esteem. They're anxious and scared about where they might be going, they're worried about leaving their friends and the staff they've formed good working bonds with are all being taken away from them. These children are among the most vulnerable in society with many complex needs and it is so cruel to have their school taken away from them, leaving them with no school to attend in September and parents scrambling around looking for schools to find one that might be appropriate for their children, supported by the local authorities.

Given the timing of the closure, this leaves no time for parents or local authorities to find appropriate alternative provisions and give the children a fully supported appropriate transition to a new school setting. These children are now being denied their right to an education, by Elysium Healthcare cruelly closing their school, leaving them at a huge disadvantage, as they are so difficult to find placements for, compared to children in mainstream education. 

The children are distraught, parents worried and staff left without jobs. 

Please sign this petition in favour of keeping Crossley Manor school open, for the sake of the vulnerable children who desperately need this provision, and help Elysium Healthcare see how morally and ethically wrong it is to close down this school how they have. 

I would like the department of education to look into this closely and to in the future, prevent private companies such as Elysium, from running schools, especially for children with such complex needs and force them out of the education sector, so someone who actually does put the children and their needs first, and keeps their school open. 

Thank you