Holdem School Academy and The Special Education Needs Authority

The Education system in the Republic of Mauritius has been responsive to the learners with SEN. It is sensitive towards the learners with disabilities and realizes the responsibility of providing appropriate education for all those who would not otherwise benefit from the regular curricular programs that are offered to most of the learners. In this direction, the Ministry initiated the process of educational reform under the Government Programme 2015-2019, ‘Achieving Meaningful Change’.

Awell-defined SEN Policy, in alignment with SGD4, has been drawn up to fulfilits commitment to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunity’ by “Leaving no child behind”. The guiding principle of this policy and strategy framework is quality education for ALL and Government’s proactive approach to address the issues related to SEN by promoting inclusion.

A great amount of thinking and effort has gone into the planning, execution and evaluation of the educational path that has been drawn for learners with SEN.The Policy and Strategy Document of 2006 set out a strategy to improve the facilities for learners with SEN. A clear commitment to promoting greater inclusion was signalled, as was the need to develop and strengthen the special schools.

NGOs have made significant contributions towards the care and education of children with SEN. In Mauritius, education is regarded as a source of economic and social advancement. Since its independence in 1968, the Government of Mauritius took the initiative to meet the challenges it had to face as a small,geographically isolated, Island State. Education has always been a prime concern for Government and thus heavy investments have been made to make education accessible to people of the Republic of Mauritius. Yet despite all the affirmative efforts by Government and the NGOs, somehow the education for special needs remained in the periphery. After the Salamanca Convention (1994),the Government’s efforts have been strengthened towards the education of children with special needs.

Holdem School Academy’s continuing relationship with the SENA is strong because its principles align with our own: the sense of strong moral purpose, underpinned by a motivation for deep social justice and the continual endeavour to secure successful and fulfilling outcomes for all our young people.

Through it we maintain our knowledge of and contribute to, the national perspective. We utilise the SENA network for sharing of excellent practice and high-quality training and development, both as providers and attendees.

At Holdem School Academy we have specialised in communication and interaction, catering for pupils with:

·          Speech and language delay, impairments, or disorders

·          Specific learning difficulties

·          Additional needs or moderate to severe learning difficulties

·          Autistic Spectrum Conditions and/or moderate and severe learning difficulties.

We have considerable expertise in developing and utilising communication systems to best meet the needs of individual pupils through such diverse media as Picture Exchange Communication (PECS), Intensive Interaction and Makaton (signing and symbols). A high percentage of our current pupils have a diagnosis of Autism so we have developed facilities, resources and our curriculum to support pupils with complex communication needs.