Doors Open Day – Hazelwood School

Hazelwood School staff were overwhelmed by the amount of interest shown in the £6.3m state-of-the-art facility near Bellahouston Park, during Doors Open Saturday. In just five hours, the school for pupils with sensory impairment had over 1,000 visitors.

Opened last August, Hazelwood brought together pupils from Kelvin School and Carnbooth Residential School for the Deaf Blind which are both now closed.

Currently 46 children and young people from age 2 to 19 are educated at Hazelwood.

Head teacher Monica McGeever was involved with the architects in the design of the building. She said: ‘There is a lack of the kind of displayed materials you’d expect to see in a school. We know from research that pupils with sensory impairment prefer a clutter free environment.’

Running around the classrooms is a sensory wall – wooden panels with raised lines which cleverly double as storage space.  Mrs McGeever said: ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate to take our older pupils by the hand. The sensory wall allows them to navigate their own way around.’

All class rooms are north facing allowing for maximum light without glare. The rooms are acoustically designed to reduce noise from the nearby M77. The school takes pupils from eight local authorities with one pupil travelling daily from Lockerbie. The school also features a therapy pool where pupils learn to swim and enjoy recreation time.

Mrs McGeever concluded: ‘The weekend was very positive and we will be opening our doors again next year.’