By Sarah Mac Donald - 03 December, 2014
The religious publisher and retailer, Veritas, on Tuesday donated a large Nativity to a school which caters for children with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disability.
Since 1963, St Raphael’s Special School in Celbridge Co Kildare has been teaching children from the age five up to 18. It is geared specially for pupils presenting with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intellectual disability.
Speaking after the presentation, the principal of St Raphael’s, Kathy Waldron said St Raphael’s 64 pupils would “greatly benefit from seeing the nativity scene, which we hope will help them to visualise and understand the Christmas story”.
Elaine Mahon, Manager of Catechetical Publications with Veritas, explained that those involved in writing the new primary religious education programme, ‘Grow in Love’, are conscious of the diverse needs of children within mainstream schools and in special schools like St Raphael’s.
“We always try to support teachers by providing attractive resources like this nativity to help them in their work,” she said.
‘Grow in Love’ will be introduced to all Catholic primary schools on a phased basis, starting with Junior and Senior Infant classes in September 2015.
It is based on a new Catholic Pre-school and Primary Religious Education Curriculum for Ireland.
This curriculum includes guidelines aimed at meeting the needs of children with moderate, severe and profound general learning disabilities.
