Bishop opens new facilities at Moorside school to help children flourish

An Oldham primary school has officially opened two new facilities to give children with special educational needs the best start in life.

Bishop Mark Davies, Suffragan bishop of Middleton in the Diocese of Manchester and Chair of Diocesan Board of Education, opened The Haven and the sensory room (pictured below) at St Thomas’ School in Moorside, which is for children with social communication difficulties or autism.  

Oldham Council provided the Coleridge Road School with funding to set up the resource, which has major adaptations to support children within Oldham to help them to achieve the very best in education.  

Larissa Fox, Federative SENCo at the school, said: “The event was to celebrate the huge journey we have been on as a federation to develop our provision further to enhance opportunities for the SEND children within Oldham.  

“Our provision is creating opportunities for children to access wider opportunities - including going out in the community and developing key life skills.  

“We started out with a bid to the authority and during this time we completed research and visited settings out of borough.  

“We've then designed the space to ensure it is purposeful for all. We have ensured we've considered every possibility.  We were able to incorporate an immersive sensory room which is adored by all children not just those with SEND.  

“We've initially started with a soft opening and extending this up to 12 children throughout the academic year. It has been a long-term passion of mine to ensure children get the very best opportunities in their education as they only get one chance and one opportunity.”