Public Sector's Local Heroes

Oct 5 2008

FOR 24 years, Anne Wilson has promoted the rights of children with additional needs to receive a positive education. As head teacher at Park School, Kilmarnock, which caters for five to 18-year-olds, Anne and her staff help youngsters face a range of challenges.

SOME children are identified at the pre-school stage as needing additional support. Others are referred through psychological services to Park.

"Some of them come from homes where literacy and numeracy hasn't featured at all," says Anne. "Often when they come here, we have to go back to basics, introducing them to books and reading stories to them.

"We have to teach them how to play and share and we can't ignore the fact the environment they have been brought up in can often be a barrier to their learning."

The children have a mixture of behavioural, educational, and special needs.

Some who have been in mainstream schools have experienced bullying.

"They sometimes display lack of confidence and low self-esteem, which can be challenging behaviour," says Anne. "But once they are in this setting with small group numbers and more people to interact with them, they build up relationships which they haven't had the opportunity to do before. You can see their self-esteem and confidence rising."

Due to retire at Christmas, Anne is delighted that Park is about to move into a new joint primary/secondary campus where the 95 pupils will be able to integrate more.

"It has always been one of my ambitions to be in the same campus with increased opportunities for social inclusion," she says.

"The highlight of the job has always been the children, especially the uninhibited affection from the younger pupils."

Although employment is the ultimate goal for the children, Anne acknowledges opportunities may be limited.

She said: "I would just hope they would have picked up the skills to be good parents, to believe in lifelong learning, to keep using libraries, reading books, socialising in the wider community and not to feel they were different."

I don't want kids to feel they're different