THE foundations have been laid for a special unit at Isle of Man College.
Work started last month on the two-storey building, for students aged 16 to 19 with profound and multiple learning difficulties.
Isle of Man College principal Professor Ronald Barr said: ‘The work is all going ahead as planned, we are all very excited about it.’
The £1.92m project at the college, in Homefield Road, Douglas, has to be completed by August so it can open its doors to 30 students in September.
It will be named after Annie Gill, a Manx resident who in the 1920s was the head of the Royal College of Nursing.
The wheelchair-accessible facility will include teaching areas, an IT area, a sensory garden, a multi-sensory room, physiotherapy and medical rooms, and a toilet and shower area.
On the upper level there will be a café run by students under staff supervision.
It will serve the college and people from the local community.
Special educational needs adviser Sue Marriott has said that, at present, students with severe and complex learning difficulties ‘do not have the option of full-time college places’.
The unit, with its own separate entrance as well as being attached to the main college building, is being built on the site of the former college nursery playground.
Outside term-time, it is hoped that other agencies will make use of the facilities.
Comments