The Hope School in Westcliffe held its careers day expo on 19 and 20 April for children from various special needs schools in Gauteng.
The expo, a joint venture between the school and Mandeville Disability Swimming Programme, aims to showcase the various career opportunities for children with disabilities, whether that be in jobs or learnerships.
“We saw a need for the careers day as a lot of the time there are mainly expos for children without disabilities. So we saw a definite need for this to showcase the various opportunities available for children with disabilities. “There are many companies who cater for disabilities and were more than happy to come and explain their options to the children,” explained Paddy Slattery, the event co-ordinator for the expo.
Read iPads enhance learning for special needs children
This year, 14 special needs schools from across Gauteng brought their schoolchildren to the expo to learn about the career opportunities available to them.
“We are big on diversity and inclusion, this is our third year at the expo and just seeing the way the children’s face light up when they hear about their options is reason enough to be here,” commented Lolly Gwabavu, an exhibitor from Hollard.
Rene Becker, deputy principal for the Hope School explained that the careers day is also part of the life skills programme at the school.
“It allows the children to learn about the world of work and provides them with the guidance of how it is in the working place and what skills they would need in order to get a job.”
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
Send us your school stories. Email rkg@caxton.co.za
