New term rings in state-of-the-art facilities for Royal Blind School

Royal Blind Press Release

For immediate release: 20 August 2014

Autumn school term begins today (Wednesday 20 August) at the Royal Blind School, with all pupils located together for the first time at state-of-the-art new facilities in Morningside.

For many years the school has been based at two sites, the original school at Craigmillar Park, Newington and at Morningside. Now, following a year of re-development the Morningside campus is opening its doors to all the school’s pupils.

The thoroughly refurbished facilities will ensure the school is well equipped to cater for children with varying complex needs in addition to their visual impairment. The site at Morningside also accommodates two other Royal Blind services for children and young people – Kidscene after school and holiday club, and Forward Vision, a residential and respite service for 18-24 year olds.

Improvements to facilities at the Morningside site include new specialist classrooms, a games area suitable for children with disabilities, contrasting colours which enable pupils with low vision to navigate independently and a flat for visiting parents and carers. All teaching and care facilities are located on the ground floor, ensuring improved accessibility.

Richard Hellewell, Chief Executive of Royal Blind, said:

“The new term marks the beginning of an exciting new phase for the Royal Blind School, with all our pupils being educated together in our re-developed Morningside campus.

“I’m sure all pupils will benefit from the wealth of resources that are available following this extensive refurbishment. Our dedicated staff team are bringing Royal Blind’s unrivalled experience of working with visual impairment into this modern learning environment.

“Looking forward, our strategy is to be outward focussed - to support pupils with visual impairments in mainstream schools as well as those who attend the Royal Blind School. We are on the way to establishing the Royal Blind Resource Centre, to share our expertise and provide support and training to teachers in mainstream schools that work with visually impaired pupils.”

For further information contact

Una Purdie
Marketing and PR Assistant
Royal Blind
Tel 0131 222 2794

una.purdie@royalblind.org

Photographs available on request

Notes to editors:

• The Royal Blind School is a national grant aided special school that educates and cares for pupils who are blind or have a visual impairment, as well as those with additional support needs. www.royalblind.org/education

• The Royal Blind School is part of Royal Blind, a registered charity that runs services for blind and partially sighted people. Our vision at Royal Blind is to make a significant contribution to building a community in which blind and partially sighted people, including those who also have other disabilities, are fully included and lead fulfilling lives. www.royalblind.org

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