Funding helps expand work of Dungannon’s Buddy Bear Trust

DUNGANNON based Buddy Bear Trust Conductive Education School has announced the launch of its ‘Lifetime of Difference’ Project, a five-year programme for children with Cerebral Palsy and motor disorders.

Last week’s announcement comes following confirmation of £1 million funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and the McClay Foundation.

The school has been supporting children with Cerebral Palsy and motor disorders for almost 30 years, and since then, dozens of children, and their families, have benefitted from its specialist Conductive Education approach.

Conductive Education, pioneered in Hungary, aims to develop children with motor disorders from an educational, rather than a treatment, perspective.

The ‘Lifetime of Difference’ project includes plans to provide satellite Conductive Education sessions in both Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, thereby offering three locations and increasing accessibility for children right across Northern Ireland.

The aim of the School is to support the successful transition and inclusion of children with Cerebral Palsy into mainstream education, wherever possible. As a result, the ‘Lifetime of Difference’ project complements existing statutory education services and yields additional benefits for the NI Health Service as it reduces children’s reliance on the service as their health and mobility improves and decreases stress on parents and siblings.

Brendan McConville, who is the chairman of The Buddy Bear Trust said, “This is great news for the Buddy Bear Trust Conductive Education School and we are very grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund and The McClay Foundation for their support. Our sole ambition is to ensure that as many children as possible, who have Cerebral Palsy and motor disorders in Northern Ireland, have the opportunity to benefit from Conductive Education and achieve their full potential. While the generous funding has enabled us to launch the Lifetime of Difference Project, we will still require a final piece of funding support from government to ensure the longer-term success of our school, and a lifetime of difference for our precious children.”

Sandra McNamee, from The National Lottery Community,said they were delighted to support the Buddy Bear Trust’s ‘Lifetime of Achievement’ project with £500,000 of National Lottery funding.

“The provision of specialist conductive education over the next five years at the school will make a real and lasting positive impact on the lives and future opportunities of its pupils, and it will also be of immense support and help to parents, carers and wider family,” she said.