Soroptimist Club sponsors specialist to help School for the Exceptional Child |18 July 2019

Head teacher Quatre accepting the book donation from Mrs Marshall

For the past two weeks, the School for the Exceptional Child had been hosting Joanne Marshall from Scotland who is a member of the Irish Soroptimist Club.

The purpose of her mission to Seychelles was to conduct a situational analysis of the evaluation of teaching and learning, assessing the physical environment and monitor the availability of services offered at the School for the Exceptional Child.
Marie Ah-Moye, the president of the Soroptimist Club of Seychelles, noted that Soona Oliaji started the School for the Exceptional Child in the late 1960s and she was supported by Geraldine Laporte.

As the Soroptimist Club is following in their footsteps by providing continuous support to the school, the club has sponsored Mrs Marshall to come to the school on a consultancy basis to liase with the head teacher, Heidi Quatre, to support the school.
Mrs Marshall has many years of experience in special education in managerial role. Now after having spent the past two weeks with Mrs Quatre, the Soroptimist consultant has prepared a report based on the various needs of the school.

The Soroptimist has always given support to the school and today with the support of Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove, a presentation of a varied selection of books valued at R50,000 was made to the school.

Mrs Ah Moye said that Soroptimist Seychelles hoped these books will help in the development of the children and also praised the staff of the School for the Exceptional Child for their dedication and hard work.
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, the principal secretary for education, Dr Odile de Commarmond thanked the Soroptimist Club for such an initiative.

“This was a much needed project and we have been talking a lot about the need of training for the teachers. We have embarked on one training programme with the University of Mauritius and we are now working on a degree level training.

“When we were approached by Soroptimist Seychelles, we immediately gave approval for the project, knowing that training needs is crucial in the school. The report that will be submitted will definitely guide us on the way forward and we welcome Mrs Marshall with such expertise to help us put our efforts and funds together to support us in the training of the staff.”

The PS also noted that the school has other sponsors such as the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec) which has adopted the school.

“Together with the other sponsors we will try to coordinate on how to better use our resources efficiently,” she said.
Mrs Marshall currently leads and manages an Additional Needs Centre in the Scottish Borders. She noted that she enjoyed being at the school for the past two weeks.

“I was able to deliver training to all the staff on the communication passport and also on individual training. They have now been given time to work hard and maintain the initiatives. Together with the school we are working towards raising the standard of the school,” Mrs Marshall said.

She added that by working alongside the staff at the School for the Exceptional Child, including the head teacher, their needs could be evaluated and discussed. Following on from this, a plan for the future development can be drawn up. The teachers themselves shared what they want to have in the school,” said Mrs Marshall.

Head teacher Quatre expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Education and the Soroptimists for helping them out with this project.
At the end of the ceremony, there were two book donations to the school – one from the Soroptimist Club and the other one from Mrs Marshall.