A SCHOOL for children with special needs celebrated its twenty-first birthday with the opening of an amazing new facility.
Cambridge Park Special School was set up in 1992, with 99 students and 22 staff, dealing with children who have significant disabilities and special educational needs.
Twenty-one years later, they celebrated their birthday on Monday with the opening of a brand new state-of-the-art sensory pod.
Gillian Kendall, headteacher, said: "We are really proud that we have been serving this community for so long.
"During that time we have seen so much change and this sensory pod is another great addition to what the school has to offer."
The sensory pod's floor is like a giant TV screen which can show anything from sandy shores to moving bugs that children can play interactive games with.
There are also interactive screens on the walls and comfortable vibrating seats.
A sound system inside can play music or soothing sounds such as that of the sea.
The room even has 3D capabilities which allows it to create fully immersive atmospheres like the seaside or the forest – which both look and sound like the children are somewhere else.
And just for fun, they can play X-Box Kinect – a console with motion sensors to pick up movements which makes the games more physical.
Mrs Kendall added: "Some of our pupils have very complex needs and they have a range of disabilities so the room can do different things for different people.
"It can be a very soothing and therapeutic experience, with the sea shores under your feet and the sound of crashing waves.
"But it can also be a really fun environment with games and plenty going on such as bugs running around the floor and X-Box.
"The key part is that it is interactive – children can affect the environment around them."
Cambridge Park was built to replace two smaller schools which were closed – Carnforth School, Grimsby, and Trinity School.
Since the school opened in 1992, it has been a leader in its field with the way it cares for children with disabilities.
In 1994 and 1998, they added two specialised autism bases which help children learn with conditions along the autistic spectrum.
The school was given special status in maths and computing in 2008 and is well known for its teaching using ICT.
In 2011, it became one of the first special schools in the country to convert to an academy, allowing it to run itself, free from local authority control.
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