ESF announces opening of Therapy Centre

The English Schools Foundation announces the opening of the ESF Therapy Centre which provides access to Educational Psychology, Speech & Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy for both ESF students as well as the wider community.

 

The ESF Therapy Centre’s full range of professional services includes assessing children and young people with additional educational needs, and provides them with appropriate and timely therapeutic interventions to deliver a significant positive impact on their progress.

 

“We are proud to announce the opening of the ESF Therapy Centre,” said Mr Carlson Tong, Chairman of English Schools Foundation. “It is part of ESF’s 10-year Special Educational Needs (SEN) Strategy which is being developed to strengthen ESF’s professional services to meet the growing needs of the community in SEN.” 

 

In the 2011-12 academic year, there are 160 students who required extensive teaching and learning adjustments in our Learning Support Classes (LSCs) in one of the seven ESF primary schools or the four ESF secondary schools. Another 60 students are in ESF’s special school―Jockey Club Sarah Roe School (JCSRS). Due to limited resources, 21 children who have gone through specialist assessment have to be on the waiting list for the LSCs or JCSRS, and 191 children have expressed interest to enrol and are waiting for specialist assessment. In addition, all ESF schools work with students with lower level special educational needs taught in mainstream classes with additional support. 

 

“The introduction of the ESF Therapy Centre provides access to specialised professional services in three main areas: Educational Psychology, Speech & Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy,” said Alan Howells, SEN Adviser of English Schools Foundation. “Children will be referred by their teachers or parents to the Centre for an assessment by our therapists to determine if specialist intervention should be provided. We expect that up to 1,000 cases can be handled in the 2011-12 academic year.”