Head of school for pupils with complex needs to open full-time by August
The head of Scotland’s national school for children with motor impairments plans to open full-time to all pupils by August, and believes some schools for complex needs pupils need not have closed during lockdown.
Craighalbert Centre chief executive officer Bob Fraser said as it scaled back, rather than fully closing, the school now has a model in place for being open full-time for all pupils by around 13 August.
Families said having the school in Cumbernauld open throughout the coronavirus crisis has helped prevent their children’s progress from backsliding, with one mother saying it was a “lifeline”.
To accommodate the social distancing needed – with classes having changed to oneto-one support – the school made adaptations, including extended use of outdoor classroom and therapy space and buying 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.”
Asked if other schools could learn from the actions taken, he said Craighalbert is in a “very different situation” from mainstream education, but added: “I think there’s more learning for other special schools. Perhaps more of them could have kept going in a limited way.”
The school is at a “huge advantage” in adapting as classes tend to have no more than six pupils to one staff member, he said, but the “biggest blockage” is staff childcare due to mainstream schools not planning to go back full-time when they return in August.
Mr Fraser said the plans in various council areas are “very fragmented” and to solve this he will run a childcare hub for his staff.
Being able to remain open has made a “significant difference” in physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing for pupils, he believes.
One of the pupils is Oliver Cunningham, eight, who has the rare genetic condition 3-q28 duplication syndrome and is non-verbal, learning to walk with support and has only recently started eating.
He is shielding and has resumed travelling to the centre this month from his home in Bonnybridge near Falkirk for three days instead of his normal four-and-a-half, but his mother Michelle said she has already seen a difference.
Part of his session includes being supported by staff to use the outdoor physiotherapy equipment, while another pupil does the same at a twometre distance.
“I do think it’s good for his mental health and good for his wellbeing to be here,” his mother said.