School buildings progress

Dawn Bosley.
Dawn Bosley.
Work is set to finish on a new special needs facility at Mount Aspiring College by the end of the month to accommodate the growing number of special needs pupils at the school.

As well as the special needs facility, a new classroom block was finished during the school holidays, and pupils usedg the rooms for the first time last week.

The school has 10 special needs pupils up from seven last year and is expected to increase to 12 next year.

Funding for the $350,000 facility was provided by the Ministry of Education and is part of $2million in extra funding given to the college to expand its learning spaces to accommodate its increasing roll.

Since 2000, the school’s roll has increased from 385 pupils to more than 850 this year.

Special needs co-ordinator Dawn Bosley said the new facility provided  pupils with the space to be able to work in small groups together and allowed teachers to work with more than one pupil at a time.

It could be difficult for teacher aides who worked with special needs pupils as they worked within other classrooms, but the new facility meant they could work with a pupil without worrying about affecting other pupils and teachers, she said.

Because the pupils had different types of disabilities including autism, Down syndrome and physical disabilities, they all needed different types of care and the new facility would make it much easier to provide that, Ms Bosley said.

The facility includes a toilet block, kitchen facilities, meeting rooms as well as a classroom.

tim.miller@odt.co.nz

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