Deputy first minister John Swinney visited a school for children with additional support needs that has had a £3m renovation
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has been given a tour round Scotland’s latest state of the art residential school for children with complex additional support needs (ASN).
Swinney, who is also minister for education, visited East Park for the first time since it was transformed with a £3m renovation. He witnessed how the service has been specifically designed for children with highly intensive behavioural support needs related to learning disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
East Park’s pupils often struggle to make sense of the social world around them and have difficulty sharing their living and learning space with others.
It is clear a huge amount of work has already been done to ensure that the young people of East Park have the support and resources they need to reach their full learning potential
Deputy first minister John Swinney
The school now provides a nurturing calm environment, where sensory stimulation can be readily controlled, minimizing the child’s anxieties and supporting the child to develop coping strategies which will facilitate and enhance their socialization skills.
Swinney said: “I am extremely grateful to the pupils, families and staff of East Park for inviting me along to help them celebrate the launch of these fantastic new facilities.
“This development will make a real difference to the lives of the children and young people here. It is clear a huge amount of work has already been done to ensure that the young people of East Park have the support and resources they need to reach their full learning potential and these new facilities will only enhance that.”
East Park’s executive director, Judy Cromarty, said: “Our consistent child-focussed approach and ethos, which is promoted and practiced across all of East Park services, has resulted in positive outcomes, even for those young people who have come to East Park having challenged other services to the point of exclusion and breakdown.
“This approach has contributed to our ability to sustain those placements until the young person moves through a successful transition to adult services.”
East Park is in Glasgow and delivers specialist residential care and education to children and young people with complex additional support needs such as learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), physical impairments, attachment disorder, and significant behavioural challenges.
