St James Primary School is appealing for donations to help it purchase a disability minibus.
The school, situated on the Lansbury Park estate in Caerphilly, currently has two Special Resource Base (SRB) classes for children with complex disabilities which service the whole borough.
Some of those children are wheelchair users, and while the school is completely wheelchair accessible, last summer Caerphilly County Borough Council’s health and safety assessment deemed the ramps used to board wheelchairs into the bus as unsafe.
This means the school’s SRB pupils are missing out on weekly trips into the community.
Minibuses with tail lifts cost in the region of £30,000, though if the school can reach £17,000, it is able to apply to children’s charity Variety for one of their Sunshine Coaches.
St James ward was named Wales’ most deprived area in last year’s Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Serena Bounds, Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator at St James said: “Our small, hard-working PTA raises very little money each year.
“We do not perceive our minibus as a ‘luxury.’ It is vital to the SRB classes, as coach hire for just 16 children – and a coach with a tail lift – is prohibitively expensive for both school and parents.
“The children in the SRB classes benefit hugely from weekly trips into the local community to develop their life skills and broaden their experiences.
“The children in our mainstream classes benefit from integrating with these children to develop tolerance, understanding of different needs and compassion. We are proud to be a very inclusive school.”
Morrisons supermarket in Caerphilly town has been at the heart of fundraising for the minibus.
Serena added: “Morrisons have offered enormous support in several ways.
“They’ve already given us a cash donation, as well as contributing significantly to our Easter and summer fairs by providing lots of cakes for our cake stall, raffle prizes, tins and bottles and toys and prizes for games.
“They are going to be selling raffle tickets and holding bucket collections in store.
“They’ve even donated 150 eggs for our Easter egg hunt.”
A GoFundMe page is in the process of being set up for all those who would like to contribute to the fundraising.
This is the type of thing the council should be funding.