Who we are:

Parkland Special School was formed at the beginning of 2006, when the Eastern Cape Education Department built a new facility to accommodate the amalgamated McClelland Special School and Parkside Training Centre to form a new entity. We took “Park” from Parkside and “land” from McClelland, and that is how the name of the school was decided upon.

Where we come from:

Both McClelland and Parkside Schools were established in the 1970s and catered for pupils from their own communities; McClelland mainly for white pupils and Parkside mainly for coloured pupils.  Fortunately, since the early 1990s, this racial division has fallen away and there is no discrimination on grounds of race, gender or anything else.

Where we are at the present moment:

The school has grown to represent learners and staff from all communities and cultural groups. The equity ratio is well represented. Good relationships are found amongst staff members, learners and parents, as well as the community.

What we do:

Our school is a Public Special School (LSEN) and falls under the auspices of the Eastern Cape Education Department. Funding is provided by the Department of Education to a certain extent and is strictly controlled according to the Public Finance Management Act.  However, there are many items that cannot be purchased from the Departmental allocation, mainly because sufficient funding is not received to cover additional expenditure.   Most, if not all of the items additional to the school budget, are used only for the benefit of the learners.

What services do we provide?

Our school caters for learners, aged between six and eighteen years, who are Severely Intellectually Disabled as well as those who are Profoundly Intellectually Disabled. These are the primary disabilities for all children who are admitted.   Many have secondary disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, minor visual impairment, etc. Parkland currently has 43 learners who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in Phase 1. The current enrolment is 271 learners in total. 

Pupils who are admitted to our school must have been found to be in need of intensive support due to the nature of their disability.  Only reports from professionals are acceptable for determining admission. The process of admission is done by the School Based Support Team (SBST) and the District Based Support Team (DBST).

BEE Code of good practice profile:

The learners are aged from six to eighteen years, all of whom are severely intellectually disabled.   All race groups are represented (78% of total beneficiaries/learners; that is 214 of total 271 are defined as Black, 12.5% Coloured (34 learners) – as per the BEE Code of Good Practice). The rest of the learners are from the white and Indian groups.

Staff:

All educators at our school have to be formally trained, with at least a four-year teaching degree or diploma, Foundation Phase. Educators with special needs training are preferred. There are currently also 2 Therapists employed: 1 Physiotherapist and 1 Occupational Therapist.

There are a number of departmentally employed support staff members, i.e., drivers, teacher aides and cleaners, who are essential for the smooth running of the school.  The drivers transport 233 learners on a daily basis from home to school and back home in the afternoon, with drivers leaving as early as 07h00 to get the learners to school on time.

There are also 5 full time and 2 temporary SGB employed support staff members at Parkland. Furthermore, there are 5 ex-learners employed under the EPWP programme. They assist with general cleaning duties.

There are also 9 learner assistants who are privately employed by the parents who stay with the learners in class for the full duration of the day.

There are 5 EPWP appointed assistants taking care of learners who need support.

Therapy Department:

Parkland Special School has a well-resourced Therapy Department where learners who require specific therapy are treated. Presently the school has an Occupational Therapist and a Physiotherapist employed who work together as a team to assist the learners. The Therapy Department consists of two areas which can be separated if necessary. An aquatherapy pool is also situated adjacent to this space.

Click here to view Therapy information 

Curriculum: The main focus is on Foundation Phase SID Curriculum. The focus shifts to more practical work as from the age of 14 years. The school offer 8 electives (practical subjects) of which learners must choose 3 electives for the duration of their schooling until leaving school. The electives are: Arts & Crafts, Sewing, Ancillary Health care, Hairdressing and Beauty care, Maintenance, Food Production and Woodworking & Timber.

Work programme:

Parkland Special School offers an internal and an external work programme.  Younger learners and learners who do not have the required abilities, mostly participate in the internal work programme. This programme takes place on a daily basis and consists of two aspects. Learners have jobs like emptying bins that have to be performed daily. The other aspect of the internal work programme takes place once a week where learners do jobs like cleaning, acting as teacher assistants, gardening, car washing and tea garden where learners cook or bake for staff members who ordered food. The external work programme takes place once a week. Learners are taken with school busses to various open labour market places who are willing to accommodate our learners. The older learners also attend a weekly work/life skills group run by an Occupational Therapist. Learners in their last school year have the opportunity to complete a standardised work skills assessment and are provided with a report with recommendations. Learners who are able to transition into post-school education or employment, receive a Curriculum Vitae to assist them with applying for work.

Sport:

The learners participate in sport on their level. They do a number of sport codes, like: Soccer, netball, table tennis, mini-cricket, indoor rowing, bocce, hocker, black ball pool and Special Olympics. Learners participate in the annual regional and provincial sport competitions.

Annual activities:

The school celebrate the main events happening in society on an annual basis. These are: Valentine’s Day, Autism Awareness Big Walk, Slipper Day, Prader Willy Day, Youth Day, Mandela Day celebrations, Deaf Awareness Day, Heritage Day and Teachers’ Day.

The Family Fun Day is taking place on the last Saturday in February each year. The aim is to let our learners enjoy a day of fun and enjoyment with games, water slides, music, and refreshments. Parents are joining the learners. Many of our learners are coming from a poor socio economical background and environment and this day is a highlight in their lives.

The prize-giving ceremonies take place in November each year. The learners also enjoy a Christmas meal in November.

The school also engage in the food parcel distribution project at the end of each year. In 2019 a total of 30 needy families of our parent community could be blessed with food parcels. The SGB makes a contribution towards the project and we also receive funding from private donors.

Fund raising events:

The major fund-raising events are the High Tea in May each year to generate funds for the school leavers’ farewell function. This is a prestige event equal to a mainstream high school farewell function.

The Big Walk generates an average of R40 000.00 which is utilized to purchase much needed items and to do projects for the learners. Recent projects were: walkway from the main gate to the hall, shade roofs for learners at playgrounds, playground equipment and a sensory room. Workshops for electives were also equipped like the nail and beauty salon and the sewing classroom.

The annual street collection also brings in some money but has unfortunately been discontinued by the Municipality due to Covid-19 restrictions. We are hoping that this will be reinstated again as we need the funds.

We will also have our first ever Carnival on the last Saturday in November 2022. We hope to raise an amount of R500 000.

Parent-teacher meetings:

Parent-teacher meetings are held at the end of every term to discuss learner progress. A parent information meeting is held the day before schools reopen in January. This is a very important meeting whereby parents are introduced to school matters, like uniform, school fees, school rules. The annual AGM takes place in November each year whereby school fees for the following year is introduced to parents for adoption.

Parkland Press

The school distributes the Parkland Press news at the end of every term. Most of the happenings and news are contained inside the Parkland Press. This is a mouthpiece to the community and the Department of what is happening at Parkland. The news magazine has grown from strength to strength.

Resources:

The school is privileged to be well resourced. Buildings and grounds are very well maintained.

Safety and Security:

A high measure of safety and security is maintained. Polices are in place. CCTV cameras are installed in all classrooms, playgrounds, passages and other critical areas. An intercom system is in place.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

The community is involved in the life of the school. Beacon Bay Life Hospital was doing an annual fundraising donation project towards the school from 2014 to 2018. The McClelland Trust is donating on an annual basis as well. First National Battery, Moodie’s, PNA Stationers, Roadwing, Stirling Baptist Church, Dutch Reform Church Nahoon, is some of the regular donors.

The school also benefitted from the BCM Grant-in –Aid.

There are other numerous donors and individuals who donate items, either in kind or monetary donations.

We enjoy a warm relationship with the community and their open hands towards Parkland need mentioning.

ESSS/ BCM DISTRICT INVOLVEMENT

The CES: ESSS is very much involved with Parkland and is assisting the school in a very good and positive way.

The Circuit Manager’s involvement is also excellent and it is a please to work with these officials. The principal has good relationships with all the officials in the Education Department.

School Profile/ School profile of the organization 2022