School raises funds to build permanent facility
The school caters for learners with disorders such as Down's, Williams and Asperger's syndromes, suffer from diabetes, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, language developmental delays, autism and epilepsy.
MBOMBELA – Pro Gratia, a school for children with special needs, held its first ever market day on Saturday.
With the funds raised on the day, the school is planning to build a permanent facility for a speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and educational psychologist, a hall where structured indoor and stimulation games, concerts and other functions will be held. Also, a cookery class and woodwork facility form part of the future developments.
The school caters for learners with disorders such as Down’s, Williams and Asperger’s syndromes, suffer from diabetes, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, language developmental delays, autism and epilepsy.
Young and old heeded the call and descended on the school, which is located on the outskirts of town. The little ones were chuffed to take pictures with one of the characters of the popular children’s series Tjiff en Tjaff on kykNET’s Koowee channel.
One of the co-organisers of the event, Nicolene du Plessis said the turnout caught her by surprise. “We have a very successful child-friendly atmosphere today. We are planning to have another function closer to Christmas. We want to raise funds, but also to market the school. We are struggling as we don’t receive government funding. The school is registered as a non-profit organisation. We want to build a few classes to accommodate more children at our school,” she said. There are currently 67 learners with special educational needs at the school.
