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We hope to fundraise 8000 euro by doing various events this school year. We have spoke to an outside company and identified what we would like in the sensory room. We hope to visit other secondary schools and speak with them as to equipment that they would recommend. We hope to bring in a guest speaker from ASIAM. We will look for students and parents input and the SEN department to ensure we can cater for as many needs in the school as possible.
Our Social Issue
We identified that our school had no sensory room and we felt a room where students can retreat to when feeling overstimulated would be a great project. We have students in our transition year class who are autistic and they felt entering the school a sensory room would have created a safe space for them to relax at times. We spoke with the SEN department in our school and they agreed it was certainly a fantastic idea and had explained that parents and staff had identified this issue. So it felt like it was a perfect opportunity for our group to do address this social issue .
Why We Chose It
We chose to do our project on the creation of a sensory room for our school. We felt it was an important social issue as many people in our school were in need of a safe space if they were having a sensory overload at any point during the day. It was a social issue we felt we could fix in Tullamore College and we relished the opportunity to add to the excellent holistic approach that already exists in the school.
Our Goal
Another goal of ours is to inspire other schools in the country to take on this project. There are numerous schools in the country who are waiting on government funding for sensory rooms to improve the school environment, but with this project, we feel we have proved that with a dedicated TY group , the aim can be achieved within a number of months if you really put your mind to it and try your best to get as much funding as you can. We'd encourage other groups to take on the project- it'd be unbelievable what could be achieved.
Our Innovative Action
We have taken numerous actions throughout our YSI project journey. We have ran many events in the school in aid of our sensory room, all of which have brought us closer and closer to our big goal for the end of the year. We've held free dress days, bake sales, created hampers and had spot prizes to raffle off, ran a relay marathon and collected sponsorship, sold ice cream and other treats at lunchtimes. We have educated our students on the topic after getting a talk from Finbar Horgan of AsIAm Ireland about autism and sensory needs.
Our Impact
People are now talking about the sensory room and are interested in it .Students are becoming more aware of what sensory needs are and how they can be more empathetic towards the situation. Students loved the presentation given to them about autism and we were shocked how much we were able to educate them on it. It will be a huge addition to the school that will hopefully stay there for the next 20 years, which is a massive positive difference that one Transition Year class can make.