St Gabriel's School on Cork's Curraheen Road, which opened last September, is the only school of its kind in the south of the country.
It is a "stand alone" special school under the auspices of the Brothers of Charity. Other schools of this type are generally on the campus of ordinary schools.
Originally, the premises was used for a primary school, Scoil Colm Ban. But when that school amalgamated with Spriod Naomh, the premises became vacant. The Brothers of Charity and the Department of Education got together and secured the building.
"The school caters for children with severe and profound learning difficulties," says principal Siobhan Allen. "It also caters for children who are assessed as having autism. The age group is four to 18. At the moment, we have five-year-olds to 17-year-olds - in all, 26 pupils, though the school has a capacity for 36. Originally a primary-school teacher, she did a postgraduate course in St Patrick's College in Dublin. "We have six teachers and, because a high level of support is required, we have two classroom assistants in each classroom."
John Hankard is, at five, the youngest pupil in St Gabriel's. He is autistic; he is unable to communicate verbally. "John gets great individual attention," says his father, Jim. "And there are great support services, such as a social worker. "I'm delighted with the school and I've noticed that John is much calmer now. He enjoys music therapy and he has access to a speech therapist. In fact, this is the first time he's had access to one, which is very important for him.
"He's good at swimming, and he's working at pictures to help him communicate. Each kid has his or her own work space in the classroom, which is very beneficial to John."
Autism is dealt with by "using structured teaching techniques", Allen explains. "The teaching of skills take place in a distraction-free environment. We are basically preparing the autistic children with the skills necessary for adult life. "For example, the children would learn how to order a meal. They would start in the classroom and then be taken to McDonald's.
"The curriculum in the school is very much designed to be broad-based and aims to promote the optimum social and personal development of the pupils. It contains communication skills, personal skills and cognitive skills. There would be heavy emphasis on sensory work. "This school is the Department's response for providing education for this category of learning disability. Prior to this, the children were in CEDCs (Child Education and Development Centres) - for example, in places like Lota. It was decided that the Department of Education should become involved instead of the Department of Health. "So now, the children are in a `proper' school with teachers and an educational structure which they didn't have up to now," says Allen.
At 17, Karen Owers is the oldest pupil at St Gabriel's. "She is severely handicapped mentally and slightly handicapped physically," says her mother, Mary Owers. "She started attending the school in January, having attended Lota since the age of five.
"We're delighted with St Gabriel's. It has a notebook system into which comments are written every day about Karen's development. We, as parents, also write comments into the notebook."
Mary Owers says her daughter can be very stubborn and can get agitated and out of control. "She's quite moody, cries a lot and bites her hand. But since going to St Gabriel's, her mood is noticeably better. As long as she's well behaved, that's all we can hope for.
"She loves music and the school has a music therapist. Karen also loves the water, though she can't swim - the school takes her to a pool and she can splash around in the water. "When she is finished in St Gabriel's, we'll send her back to the campus in Lota."
" The Minister has said he'll do everything in his power to help make the school a success," Allen says. "So far, the Department of Education has been very supportive and very forward-thinking in its approach. These children require a high level of support in terms of staffing and resources. Jim Hankard agrees. "I must say, Micheal Martin shows great interest in St Gabriel's and follows up on what he promises."
"We're aspiring to being a model of excellence," Allen declares. "There's still a lot of work to be done yet. We are delighted that the Department provides transport for the children. We hope to have a playground soon and we're hoping to get specific items of equipment, including a multi-sensory room for tactile activities. "Some of the children are quite active and require a lot of exercise. So we want a playground which would be more suited to the young pupils. As well as that, we're hoping to get sports activities under way for the older pupils. The Special Olympics is only three years away - it would be great if some of our pupils were involved," Allen says hopefully. "We really believe in working in co-operation with the parents," the principal explains. "For these children, school and home are the two major focal points. They wouldn't have the same access to social activity as their siblings. We aim to create a good relationship with the parents as well as the siblings."
