By Violet Brown
A SPECIALIST classroom designed to support pupils with additional needs was officially opened yesterday at Ballywalter Primary School.
The Cove allows for a smaller class size with a higher pupil to adult ratio and it caters for the need for such places in the wider Ards and North Down catchment area
There are three types of specialist provision classes – learning, special and social communication – the one at Ballywalter is social communication.
The new classroom caters for the provision of additional needs for the children, while ensuring they are included and integrated into the mainstream school community, taking part in activities such as assembly and play time.
Teacher Briar Kennedy explained that each child had their own bespoke curriculum.
“I spend a lot of time teaching one to one, building social skills and life skills as well as parts of the mainstream curriculum such as numeracy and literature,” she said, adding they were able to conduct a lot of lessons outdoors.
When the unit was being set up Mrs Kennedy asked for help for additional resources, and the community answered her call. It’s thanks to community engagement and generous financial donations the school was able to purchase an outdoor classroom for the unit.
Alongside this, people travelled from outside the village bringing toys for the children’s use.
Ballywalter Primary School principal, Carolyn Craig was pleased to officially open The Cove this week.
“It is a specialist provision class designed to support pupils with additional needs, through tailored learning while remaining firmly rooted in our mainstream school community,” she explained.
“We are incredibly grateful to our families and the local community for their support in providing additional resourcing for this space, which promotes inclusion, shared learning and empathy for all our pupils.” Strangford MLA Michelle McIlveen and peninsula alderman Robert Adair were present at the official opening. Miss McIlveen said the opening of The
Cove was ‘a powerful example of the community coming together to support inclusive education’.
“This specialist classroom will help children thrive while strengthening understanding and empathy across the whole school,” she continued. “Thanks need to go Mrs Craig for her leadership, the staff and board of governors at the school and to all those who played a part in making this possible.”
