A new £40,000 centre for children with special educational needs (SEN) was officially unveiled at a school in Dagenham on Friday last week.
The red ribbon was cut at the space in Beam County Primary School, in Oval Road North, by cabinet member for education Cllr Evelyn Carpenter, in front of staff and pupils.
Funded jointly by HSBC and the school’s budget, the centre has been used since September and school inclusion coordinator Kelly Mooney insists it is already helping improve people’s lives.
“It’s just a fantastic opportunity for the children,” she said.
“Already you can clearly see the difference it’s making to their self-esteem and how much they’re enjoying school.
“They’re actually excited about going to school now and some people have even asked if they can come back at the weekends.
“One boy who started at the school in September wouldn’t say a word when he joined.
“A few months later we were reading a book about owls and his first words at school were ‘owl babies’ – he’s a right little chatterbox now.”
The school, which helps educate 83 SEN children was financed with £20,000 of funding from HSBC, which was then matched by executive headteacher Leigh Culyer.
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