Ysgol Y Deri Special School in Penarth is trying to raise £20,000 for new minibuses. They want the minibus so that they can send pupils to work placements.
Ysgol Y Deri Special School has about 600 pupils. Their ages range from three to 19. Many of them have conditions such as autism and Down’s Syndrome.
The manager of this mini bus campaign is Stacey Long, the lead for careers and work related experiences at the school. She had the idea of fundraising for a mini bus for pupils at the end of last summer.
Many school-leavers have come back to the school to visit her but many of them were unemployed. It struck her that the school should provide more work-related assistance for these pupils.
“Many of them are not doing anything anymore, so it makes me realized that we need give some employability skills.” says Stacey.
It would be more helpful if their final fund can afford more than one vehicle.
Stacey also claimed that this campaign is underway smoothly so far with the help of many friends of school and students’ parents, and they have been funded £11,500 by 6th November. The biggest donation they have received is £10,000 from Admiral Insurance.
Stacey hopes that the employers are aware that their pupils have working competence.
“Our pupils are capable, obviously all of our pupils have additional learning needs of some variety, so it showing employers that actually they are capable of work.”