Dyslexia Day Centre gets ESC £255,542 ‘stamp of approval’
DYSLEXIC children in the island will benefit from a quarter-of-a-million pound agreement between the Dyslexia Day Centre and the Education committee.
The agreement is for the 2021 academic year and will enhance the centre’s ability to offer lessons to younger children in Year 4, as well as the Year 5s and 6s who are already offered the support.
‘The younger we can get them into lessons, the better the learning in the future is – and that’s what this is all about,’ Dyslexia Day Centre chairman Mike O’Hara said.
Education, Sport & Culture works closely with the centre, but this £255,542 agreement puts a ‘stamp of approval’ to continue this joint work and expand it in the future.
Education has re-prioritised budgets to invest more in literacy.
The centre has taught 5,000 children since its inception 34 years ago and now has nine teachers who work across all the schools with the island’s dyslexic children, as well as a number of private students.
‘We feel parental and school satisfaction rates with the service were high, so the agreement was worked out on a per-student funding basis,’ an ESC spokesman said.
‘This is a big step in our commitment to the centre and literacy, which is the foundation of learning.’
He paid tribute to the centre’s important role in the past and its equally large role in the future.
Mr O’Hara said this agreement was the biggest milestone in the centre’s 34 years of service.
‘It will be good for the children and good for the future,’ he said.
‘We are looking forward to the next 12 months and continuing to be an integral part of the education system.’
The Dyslexia Day Centre has been part-funded by Education for some years, but there has never been a service level agreement like this before.
