The Family Centre is a newly built facility which was opened on April the 15th 1999 by HRH The Princess Royal. It is a multi-purpose suite of rooms, which houses the toy library, a sensory experience room and an internet connected computer for both parental and staff use.
Click below to examine the different elements of the family centre:-
The Toy Library
The Sensory Room
The Computer
The Opportunity Group
The toy library is a resource for the use of families with children with special educational needs, and for Rutland based childminders. It is a large and well maintained library of toys and equipment carefully grouped into specific areas. Sensory and special needs, imaginative play, early learning, construction, cause and effect & further learning skills and toys for older children and siblings are all catered for.
Open on a Thursday morning from 10-12, the library is staffed by volunteers who will be able to help you with the choice of appropriate toys or equipment. A maximum of two toys may be borrowed for one month, and you will be asked to sign an indemnity form against the loss or damage to toys or equipment.
Please come alomg and use this valuable resource!
The sensory room is an extremely valuable new addition to the school. It comprises a large sensory "wall" (pictured below), fibre-optic light system, a rotary wall projection system with a glitterball, and a bubble tube. Restful music is often played, and the fully trained staff sometimes give a calming foot massage to the children. All those attending the school are given an opportunity to experience and benefit from the unique environment of the room on a regular basis, with the visually and hearing impaired children especially gaining a great deal from this differnet world of sight, sound and touch.
Another valuable addition to the Family Centre is the internet connected computer. Available to parents and staff from 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday (during term time), the machine has been specially modified to make it easy to use for everyone. A full, jargon free user manual is available both by the machine and to borrow from the toy library to make everything as easy as possible, whilst this web-site has been carefully designed to help the novice user get at the information they want, quickly and easily. Have fun exploring!
Every Thursday morning in term time a parent support group, called The Opportunity Group, meets at the school (in the Family Centre). They engage in many activities, both with the children and without (some examples include regular visits by professionals to teach strategies in helping the children and the Makaton sign language used at the school, along with trips out to local play areas and farm parks). The group also acts as an invaluable communications link between the staff and parents at the school, and they regularly engage in fund raising and other events from which the school benefits. To learn more, come along to one of their Thursday morning sessions at the school.
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© Matt Brett, Summer 1999