Charlie Henderson, 7 (left), Ashley Holmes, 7, and integration aid Tracy Bridge take a walk in Grassmere Primary School’s sloping grounds
GRASSMERE Primary School is banding together to ensure two pupils with cerebral palsy don’t miss out.
The school, which will have 85 pupils next year, welcomed prep Ashley Holmes at the start of the year.
The six-year-old has cerebral palsy and difficulty accessing the school’s kitchen-garden area, the undercover sports shed and some of the playground.
The school’s application for funding through the Department of Education was knocked back, so parents at the school are forming a band to perform at an ’80s night next month.
The initial estimates for the works was about $5000.
School principal Warwick Price said next year Kobe Quarrell, who also has cerebral palsy, would begin at the school.
“These are two lovely little fellows and rather than saying ‘bad luck, you don’t deserve the same opportunities’, we’re doing something,” Mr Price said.
“There are more and more children with special needs that are accessing mainstream school, which is great. We need to be able to accommodate them.
“We don’t want any of our students to miss out. It’s their choice to enter a mainstream school and they should gain every opportunity every able-body student has.
“This is simply a matter of dollars and cents, but maybe the sense is missing.”
Mr Price said the pupils needed to be able to access the kitchen garden program at the end of the north block, the undercover sports shed and the playground, which had a fair gradient.
“We’re on a hill so anywhere other than the school building was difficult to access,” he said.
Mr Price said the school was continuing to grow.
“We think that a student shouldn’t be disadvantaged accessing any areas of curriculum because they have a disability,” he said.
The fund-raiser will be held on November 17 at Brauer College. For more details contact Grassmere Primary School on 5565 4253.
cquirk@standard.fairfax.com.au