Craighalbert Centre
1 Craighalbert Way
Cumbernauld
Scotland
G68 0LS

FAQs

WHAT DOES THE CENTRE DO?

The Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments, based at the Craighalbert Centre, is Scotland’s national centre for children with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions and one of Scotland's Grant Aided Special Schools. It provides day school education for nursery, pre-school and school age children with motor impairments (for example, cerebral palsy) and incorporates the principles of Conductive Education.

The Centre also provides outreach services, family support and periodic placements to children from across Scotland, as well as those who have attended the Centre and are making the transition to mainstream schooling. The Centre was opened in 1991 in order to:
• establish a national centre for the education of children with motor impairments based on the principles of Conductive Education and other progressive educational methods;
• develop and advance education for children affected by disorders of movement, co-ordination and communication skills, caused by cerebral palsy or other conditions;
• contribute to research and the development of provision for children with motor impairments;
• provide educational institutions with assistance with courses relating to the education of children with motor impairments.
Combining the Scottish curriculum with the principles of Conductive Education, the Centre aims to allow children to achieve their full potential, developing independence and life skills. The Centre is family-focused and works closely with parents, siblings and other relatives, as Conductive Education is most effective when there is full involvement by the family in order to achieve the best possible outcome.

Please see the About Us and Our Services sections of the website for further information.

WHO ATTENDS THE CENTRE?

Children from across Scotland who have a diagnosis of cerebral palsy or other non-progressive motor impairments attend the Centre. The children have a range of abilities, from those with relatively minor physical and learning special needs to children who have more complex requirements. The Centre excels at supporting children and young people with complex and additional support needs in order to fulfil their educational, physical and functional potential, within a holistic environment.

The age of the children attending currently ranges from 12 weeks to 7 years, and then up to the age of 18 years through the Department of Flexible Programmes.

Each child is assessed prior to entry to ensure the Centre is the most appropriate environment to meet his/her specific needs and then re-assessed periodically (normally annually), to ensure that the Centre continues to be most appropriate environment for them.

HOW IS THE CENTRE MANAGED?

The Director of the Centre is Professor Patrick Salter, former Professor of Physiotherapy at Queen Margaret University and former Faculty Dean at St George’s University of London,   Kingston University and Napier University. The Director is supported by the Centre Management Team composed of Heads of Departments. Please see Our Staff for more information.

WHAT METHODS DOES THE CENTRE EMPLOY?

The Centre aims to meet all the educational and therapeutic needs of children with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions in a holistic and integrated manner, through the innovative process of conductive education. This holistic approach integrates physical and cognitive activities and is focused upon learning to address each child’s physical, intellectual, social and practical needs.
Conductive education focuses on the whole person, recognising physical, social, intellectual, and emotional aspects of learning. Considerable attention is also given to the child’s functional skills such as dressing, feeding, and walking.
It is an intensive group-based method of special education, which involves active learning and participation by the child in attempting to overcome his/her motor disability. The group environment has a strong social effect while allowing for individualisation and adjustment to the child’s personal needs. Children gain educationally, physically and socially from peer interaction and support and the group motivates the child to complete tasks, encourages accomplishments, and supports confidence and effort.
Each child has an active, intensive and direct interaction with the staff throughout the day, a process which is highly stimulating, physical and fun and learning within the group, is supported by counting, songs, and rhythmical games. In addition, the Centre employs a range of other methods to enhance the children’s motor development, including music.
The children’s activities take place in stimulating classroom environments within the Centre’s welcoming, spacious and pleasant building and specialist equipment is employed to assist the child’s activities. Children also receive hydrotherapy in the Centre’s custom-designed hydrotherapy pool and use the Centre’s landscaped gardens, grounds and play areas to enhance their learning.
A child who attends the Centre on a full-time basis will receive approximately 1000 hours of input from staff each year.

STAFF AT THE CENTRE

The staff at the Centre have a background in either health or education and coalesce their skills and expertise from their professional backgrounds to provide a holistic and integrated interaction with the children. Rather than the child moving round a number of different practitioners, the Centre’s staff are organised teams and operate in tightly-knit teams in a collective and co-profession manner which is focused on the child in order to provide an intensive programme which focus on the requirements of the individual child.

The Centre’s Director, Professor Patrick Salter, has extensive experience in university education and has led the development of education and research in physiotherapy and other health disciplines in Scotland. His external appointments include membership of the Higher Education Funding Council’s Quality Assessment, Teaching and Learning Committee, the Scottish Health Services Advisory Council and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Education Committee.   In addition, Professor Salter has held a number of appointments with universities assuring their academic standards, including Kings College London, University College Dublin and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The Centre’s Heads of Department have extensive experience working with children with cerebral palsy. These include Linda Armstrong, a graduate of King’s College London with a postgraduate Certificate in Education from Sussex University, and Alison Philipps, a graduate of Westfield College, with a certificate in Montessori Education and a Designated Teacher of Stirling University. The Centre’s administration functions are managed by Lynne Harrison, Head of Administration & Resources Management and a graduate of Nottingham Trent University.

The Centre’s staff number over 40 and include professionals drawn from a range of educational and health backgrounds including teaching, physiotherapy, speech therapy, conductive education, counselling, nursing, orthotics. Staff have extensive experience working in health and education backgrounds including NHS paediatric and neurological units, mainstream and special needs schools and nurseries. The Senior Team Members include staff with qualifications in physiotherapy, primary teaching, counselling and Conductive Education.

The Centre’s staff are complemented by colleagues from NHS and educational backgrounds, with whom the Centre has established partnerships including: Dr Robert McWilliam, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, NHS Greater Glasgow, Mr Robert Greig Orthotics Manager Yorkhill and Mr Joe O’Donnell, Audiologist Donaldson’s College.

DOES THE CENTRE OFFER FAMILY SUPPORT?

The Centre recognises that the child with cerebral palsy and other conditions can affect all members of the family. The Centre aims to support families through a number of methods, in addition to the ongoing interaction of staff with parents. At all times children, parents and extended families are supported, guided and their skills developed in a positive manner by experienced staff.

The Centre employs a Family Support Co-ordinator to offer support to children and young people with motor impairments, and their families and carers. The Co-ordinator aims to provide information to parents, support parents in their effort to secure appropriate services for their children and to help parents ensure their views and feelings are considered when important decisions are being made regarding their child's welfare.

For younger children, there is a high level of parental involvement in all aspects of the children’s activities in the Centre. Where appropriate, as the child progress through the Centre’s various age-group provisions, links and support to families are offered through regular contact through a range of methods suitable to the needs and the circumstances of the individual family.

Home visits throughout the child’s attendance at the Centre are conducted by staff to offer advice to parents and to assist with the continuity of practice into the home environment.

The Centre has established a Siblings Group which meets once per month. This is an innovative development, which allows the brothers and sisters of children who attend the Centre to discuss their feelings and concerns with the Centre’s staff through play, art and music.

DOES THE CENTRE HAVE FAMILY ACCOMMODATION?

The Centre’s location allows many children ready access, however Scotland’s population distribution results in many families being located a considerable distance from the Centre and therefore access requires an extensive journey.   The Centre is committed to enabling children with cerebral palsy or other neurological conditions from all parts of Scotland to benefit from its services.

In order for children to attend however, some parents may require or desire that the family unit travels to the Centre. To facilitate access to this national facility, family accommodation is provided on site. This includes family houses adjacent to the Centre, family rooms with bedrooms with kitchens within the Craighalbert campus. The family accommodation can be used either for short periods (from overnight to one week), or on a more long-term basis (several weeks) if required.

WHAT IS THE CENTRE’S POLICY ON INCLUSION?

One of the tenets of the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments is that every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs, has the fundamental right to education and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning. The work of the Centre is targeted towards the development of the personality, talents, intellectual and physical abilities of the child or young person, in order that they realise fully their potential.

Consequently, the Centre subscribes to the national concept of inclusion, described in advice, policy and legislation, which articulates the entitlement of all children to receive a high quality experience from the education system. It is the Centre’s view that children who have special educational needs should be accommodated within a child-centred learning environment which is capable of meeting these needs. Therefore, rather than the child ‘fitting into’ educational systems, programmes should be designed and implemented to take account of the diversity, characteristics and needs of each child.

The Centre’s educational philosophy incorporates an inclusive pedagogy which is directed towards addressing the learning needs of children with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions and is focused upon the child’s capability, where appropriate, to access and gain the maximum benefit from mainstream schools.

HOW IS THE CENTRE ORGANISED?

The Centre aims to meet all of the child’s educational and physical needs when they attend on a full-time basis, and work in partnership with the child's 'home' team where they attend on a flexible basis.

The Centre works across two departments:
- Department of Early Years Education
- Department of Flexible Programmes
Please click on the department name for more information

Future Developments
To meet the needs of children and young people with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions, their families and the professionals working with them throughout Scotland, the Centre will continue to develop services on an increasingly flexible basis and explore ways in which they can be provided in other locations.

WHAT ARE THE CENTRE’S METHODS OF ATTENDANCE?

Children access the Centre through a variety of methods, including self-referral (by parents), through the NHS or from Local Authority Education Departments. Children can commence attending the Centre as babies or young children and continue to progress through the Centre’s various provisions until they are teenagers. Children attend the Centre through a variety of methods as follows:

Sessional Attendance
Younger children or babies attend with their parents for one or two sessions per week, with each session lasting 1 hour 30 minutes. From the age of 2 to 3 years, children can attend four three-hour sessions per week, accompanied by, and working with a family member. This form of attendance is frequently shared with attendance at the child’s local nursery.

Daily Attendance
Children can attend daily throughout the year for either four or five days per week, or for selected days during the week. At the age of 3 years, children attend for up to four full days per week. Many children attending the Nursery Department will commence their transition into mainstream local educational provision by attending their local nursery for at least one session each week.

Block Periodic Attendance
Children (between 2 and 16 years) who live a distance from the Centre, or who attend a mainstream school, can access the Centre through the Outreach Department. Attendance is through four single weeks, spaced through the year (one week per school term).   Normally, younger children attend for five morning sessions with older children attending for full days.

Weekend Attendance
Children currently attending the Centre on periodic placement can also attend on specified Saturdays (normally one Saturday per month, ten per year) throughout the year.

HOW IS THE CENTRE FUNDED?

As one of seven Grant Aided Special Schools in Scotland, the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments is awarded a special status by the Scottish Government’s Schools Directorate, which recognises the necessity of the services provided, and the quality of this provision. The Schools Directorate endows an annual grant to partly fund the Centre’s activities. This grant is supplemented by Local Authority fees for which parents can apply from each Local Authority’s education department.

In addition, the Centre is supported by charitable donations, made through the Friends of the Craighalbert Centre. Donations come from a range of sources including individuals and corporate organisations. Every single donation is important and gratefully received. Without such funding the Centre would be unable to offer its current range or quality of services.

This level of funding means that many of the services are provided without a direct charge to parents. However, parents require their Local Authority to approve their child’s attendance for the Nursery, School and some Outreach provisions.

WHERE IS THE CENTRE LOCATED?

The Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments is located between Glasgow and Edinburgh at the Craighalbert Centre in Cumbernauld, in a building which is custom-designed to meet the needs of children with movement, visual, speech and hearing difficulties. The Centre is within one hour’s travel of a large proportion of Scotland’s population.

HOW DO I FIND OUT MORE?

The Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments welcomes contact from parents and from education, health and social care professionals who wish information related to Conductive Education, cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. The Centre’s staff will be delighted to assist in any way they can. Contact can be made with the Centre by phone on 01236 456100 or by email to sccmi@craighalbert.org.uk

The Centre organises information days throughout the year. If you would be interested in attending please call 01236 456100 or email to reception@craighalbert.org.uk

Sun 1 Aug