Special needs school head tells of battle to stay open in crisis
THE HEAD of a school which plans to open full-time to all pupils by August believes some schools for complex needs pupils need not have closed during lockdown.
Coronavirus adaptations have been installed at the Craighalbert Centre, Cumbernauld, as Scotland continues gradually lifting coronavirus lockdown measures.
The centre’s chief executive officer Bob Fraser said because it scaled back, rather than fully closed, the school now has a model in place for being open full-time for all pupils by around August 13.
Special sessions are taking place outdoors to deliver blended learning to children who are shielding at Scotland’s national school for children with motor impairments.
Families of the children said that having the school in Cumbernauld open throughout the coronavirus crisis has helped prevent their children’s progress from backsliding.
To accommodate the social distancing needed – with classes having had to change to provide pupils with one-to-one support – the school made numerous adaptations.
These included making extended use of an outdoor classroom and therapy spaces.
The school also bought equipment to provide virtual story massage lessons through video-conferencing for shielding pupils and families.
Mr Fraser said: “For many schools, the challenge now is to reopen and what is their model for reopening?
“Our advantage was we never closed.
“We geared down, significantly, while we tried to learn and understand but because we had complex needs children there was never the requirement for us to stop providing services.”