SIX hundred pupils will visit an East Lancashire special school this month as part of a pioneering project to give them an insight into a different world of living and learning.
Each morning a class of 30 children will turn up at Newfield School in Roman Road, Blackburn, on an inclusion programme which aims to beat discriminaton and teach them that youngsters with disabilities can be their friends and colleagues.
At the same time, pupils with complex learning difficulties from Newfield have been paying regular visits to mainstream schools in the area.
Julie Jones, Newfield's inclusion co-ordinator, said: "The project benefits our pupils and those from the mainstream schools. Our children gain experience in a different environment. They see what it is like to learn in a large class, instead of the small ones we have here, and how to work with others. It expands their world."
Mainstream pupils benefit in different ways. Julie said: "Firstly, they perhaps realise how lucky they are. Then, as they make friends, barriers are broken down. Hopefully, it means that in later life they will accept people with disabilities and not discriminate against them."
Ruth Bowler, music co-ordinator at Feniscowles Primary School, watched her pupils play in the multi-sensory room and said: "It's a wonderful project. Children from Newfield come to us and get really involved. They even take part in our sports day."
Chris Edge, aged eight, of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School's junior department, said after visiting Newfield: "I liked the sign language best. It gives you a clue of what it is like not to be able to speak or hear."
Friend Robert Sumner added: "I think all Newfield was great, but the multi-sensory room was best." And Michael Singleton said: "I had a fantastic time. My favourite bit was the three gardens for Christians, Muslims and Hindus."
Now, funding for the project, which comes from the Government's Standards Fund, is running out. Newfield headteacher Jane Barrie said: "It's been a phenomenal success, and we very much want to extend it. It is vital work."
Peter Morgan, Blackburn with Darwen Council's director of education, said: "Inclusion is key work, and resourcing is moving that way. However, the funding for this particular project was specifically for a limited period.
"We hope Newfield will now be able to make its own budgetary arrangements to carry on."
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