CHILDREN at a Derby special school have thanked the community volunteers who helped to fund a brand-new state-of-the-art sensory room and dark room.
St Giles School, in Hampshire Road, welcomed Derby North MP Amanda Solloway for the unveiling of their sensory and dark rooms, which have been funded by the school PTA, Derbyshire-based business Cosy Direct, which sells ethical educational supplies to schools and nurseries, and Fatball; a city football team which donates all of its profits to good causes in Derby.
The sensory room has an interactive ‘borealis’ tube which is activated by a press switch for children to choose different colours. It also has dice which, when rolled by children, will change the room’s mood lighting. There are LED colour changing lights; a digital mirror cloud; a sound activated light wall which changes when children clap or talk to it, and a heated waterbed for children to lie on. The room also has a media projector and sound system so that teachers can play videos linked to the curriculum.
St Giles executive head teacher Clive Lawrence with, centre, Emily Deacon and Derby North MP, Amanda Solloway
The Ofsted-rated ‘outstanding’ school also opened a new dark room which also has incredible features such as an “interactive bubble screen”; UV waterfall lights for children to look up at; a UV light mirror on the ceiling with 16 settings, and an interactive infinity panel.
Emily Deacon, a learning tutor and sensory co-ordinator at the school, who has led the project, said: “The sensory room is a fantastic and much-needed addition to the school.
“Pupils will be able to access these rooms as part of one to one and small group therapy interventions. These fantastic facilities will continue to have a positive impact on pupils with sensory needs.”
Executive head teacher Clive Lawrence said: “These new facilities will make a huge difference to the children at our school who have sensory needs.
“We have an increasing number of pupils with sensory needs who will greatly benefit from these two new highly specialist and state-of-the-art facilities.
“A huge thanks to Emily Deacon who has played a huge part in overseeing this fantastic project.”
Sensory Rooms – an idea first conjured up by Dutch psychologists Ad Verheul and Jan Hulsegge in the 1970s – help to create a safe space, develop gross motor skills and provide opportunities to teach key life skills.
As well as becoming ever-popular in both mainstream and special schools, there is also a growing need to have sensory rooms in public places. Gatwick Airport became the first airport to open a sensory room for travellers in 2018 and, more recently, Derby County opened a sensory room at Pride Park Stadium.
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