Providing kids with a place to belong
By Philippa Tracy
Three years ago Deanna Tsikkou was faced with a stark choice. She could not find a school place for her child and thought about leaving Cyprus. Instead, she opened her own school: Golden Oak private school in Limassol.
“Until you have your own children you don’t fully realise the importance the school system has on every single child,” says Deanna, a teacher by profession.
Deanna was in her mid thirties and already running her own successful language school, but within three months of opening Golden Oak, the school was growing and her language centre had to close. Without an admin or managerial team at the time, Deanna was doing everything herself.
With an older daughter in private school, Deanna realised that her younger son’s pace of development was not the same as his sister’s, and nor was it the same as his peers. Deanna had employed a learning support assistant (LSA) to support him in school but back in 2021, he was rejected from every private school she tried.
Deanna gets emotional, even now, four years later, explaining how painful it was as a mother to have your child rejected. “I begged and I cried.” She just wanted him to be part of a learning environment and have an opportunity to make friends.
“Every child deserves a quality education.”
She tried all the private schools in the Limassol area, from those claiming to be inclusive to the run-down ones with poor facilities.
At the age of three and a half, her son did not have any formal diagnosis of a special educational need, although they had seen a number of professionals. He was a late speaker and hyperactive child, potentially with either mild autism or ADHD.
She acknowledges that every school has its own philosophy, but it seems that generally, schools want the child to come “readymade”. They are not interested in having a learning support assistant in the classroom and they seem to expect children, even young children, to jump through assessment hoops. Deanna believes that, “every child develops at a different pace.” Her son, now finishing Primary Grade 2, is top of his class and that is simply “because Golden Oak exists”.
Back in 2021, Deanna sat at home on the sofa and cried. She felt her son would be lost in a public school with one LSA per group of kids with different needs. And possibly separated from other mainstream kids. Deanna grew up in Cyprus with an English-speaking mum; they are an English-speaking family and she wanted an English language education for both of her children. She describes herself as fully Cypriot, only “from the eyebrows down”. As a family, they had two choices. They could leave Cyprus. Or they could stay in the country they love and do something to shake things up. (Home-schooling is not an option in Cyprus.) She credits her husband with the idea: Why not open her own school?
She called the education ministry which gave her a huge list of things she needed to do and other departments that needed to be involved. They were fully supportive. It took two years to get the licences to open the current building.
Initially, the idea was simply to open a small school for her son and a handful of others to have “a place to belong”. The plan was to turn the basement of her home into a classroom with all the facilities needed to be licensed. It started with 10 kids registered in a Montessori reception class. But she ended up with 25 kids before they even started. Ever since then people have been knocking at her door.
Deanna says, ask anyone in any of the departments and they all know exactly who she is. Without any contacts on the inside or anyone to push the process for her, Deanna had to rely on her own persistence and ability to get to know people in different departments, and then harass them with weekly calls and visits. It still took two years to get the paperwork completed. She faced a number of hurdles, not least departmental backlogs. Deanna was impressed with the way some of the government departments worked, sending replies to emails on a Sunday! She singles out the EOA district office in Limassol for special praise and the interior minister.
The pre-school was licensed within a year. But then they needed to process the paperwork for the primary school and a transfer for the pre-school from the house to the new premises. The academics were pre-approved two years ago but all the building permits needed to be completed; this happened just last week.
Deanna never accepts the word ‘no’. She is proud to tell me that two years ago the current premises was an overgrown field. Everything was built in two months – including “creating our own water station and electric station and sewerage system”. One class then became four, and the following year there were seven classes. Everyone said it couldn’t be done in two months. “But we did it nonetheless.”
Deanna believes that some children need time to develop, and they all develop at a different pace, and in different ways. You do set high standards, but pupils need individual attention to make the progress they need. Every child has something they are good at, “you just need to find it.”
Deanna is a mother, as well as an educator and she believes that every mother wants their child to be happy, even those who send their kids to the schools that promote constant academic pressure. She is big on teamwork with parents. They have an app where parents can communicate with teachers. But parents all have Deann’a number and, for anything urgent, they are free to call her any time so as not to disturb teachers after hours.
Progress is what matters. Not every child has to have an A grade and a purely competitive environment simply encourages the culture of private lessons.
The school offers a full day until 5.30pm every day. Primary finishes at 3.30pm but there are lots of clubs for all the children. These include: robotics, coding, art, woodworking, drama, athletics, football, basketball, volleyball and choir.
Deanna gets emotional when she recalls the two very shy girls who surprised their parents at the Christmas show, by singing solos and “owning the stage”. And her son, who had never been well coordinated, danced a difficult choreography at the same show. He “didn’t miss a beat”. This is how she measures success: it’s about making a difference.
Golden Oak is a certified Cambridge International School, but offers academic flexibility when necessary. Deanna ensures there is ample time in the curriculum for creativity and fun as well.
Kids need to know they are valued. When they know they are loved, “they will want to learn from you.” Golden Oak does not turn students away unless they pose a physical threat to themselves or others around them, as safety is essential for everyone at Golden Oak. This is transparent in their internal regulations with the ministry.
The golden oak tree symbolises the roots and branches working together. Deanna values a parent’s voice and support. Ultimately she wants a happy child, a safe child and a thriving child. With an emphasis on the word “thriving”.
Students are taught in mixed abilities classes with levelled work and individual targets set, if needed. They are happy to accommodate any additional work recommended by therapists or psychologists for those students that are struggling. She has weekly curriculum meetings with staff to see what has been covered and which students have struggled or done well. She acknowledges that learning isn’t linear. She believes that communication is key, working together with parents and sharing data.
Golden Oak will continue to grow with their children. Currently, there are seven classes, 180 students and 22 staff members. But there is constant expansion. Her son is “student 0” currently finishing Grade 2 primary and about to go into Grade 3. The school will grow with the kids by adding a year group each year until her son has completed high school. His class will be the first graduating class at Golden Oak when he is 18.
Deanna gets calls for places for older students all the time but will not open any class until it is set up perfectly. Plans for the development are on her office wall. She says that Grade 3 will be ready by September 2025 with more classes in each of the following years.
This is the first new school anywhere in the world to implement the Cambridge International curriculum as soon as they opened. Deanna describes it as a fantastic programme, a version of the UK curriculum that is adapted for international students. There are Cambridge International Schools all round the world. They have lots of support from Cambridge who are big on inclusion and differentiation. Cambridge also has a Wellbeing and Perspectives curriculum to supplement the students’ social and emotional skills. Deanna believes it is important to get this right for the child before the age of eight.
Golden Oak is not a traditional school. Neurotypical students are the vast majority, but this is a school for everyone. It benefits the neurotypical students as well as the neurodiverse, or those with different levels of development. In every class there is at least one neurodiverse child but never more than three, so as not to overwhelm the students with too many adults in the classroom. Each neurodiverse child has their own LSA.
This type of inclusion does not harm the neurotypical children, in fact it helps them to become more empathetic to everyone. Deanna believes they are encouraging empathy and “building future leaders”. Something that appears to be lacking in the world right now.
Her own son has made great progress at Golden Oak. She feels blessed by what has happened. He has been her inspiration to change what she saw was lacking in education in Cyprus.
The school is a dream Deanna was ‘forced to dream” and now she cannot imagine her life without it. She credits her husband, Michael, with being with her every step of the way and completing the physical expansion of the school. They are a “tag team”. But as a woman who owns and runs a private school, in a male oriented world, she hopes she is an inspiration to her students; “anything is possible if you never give up”.
She sees Golden Oak as a social project in which she is making a difference in people’s lives.