New media centre opens

A NEW state-of-the-art media centre was opened at the Sherwood Children's Centre recently.

The media centre, called Twiddies's Nest, was sponsored by the Concord Trust and included new computers, books, a smart board and reading space for the children at the centre. The media centre was also beautifully painted with murals of birds and other creatures. “I am extremely excited, it's like being in a different world,” said Robyn Shepstone, director of the Sherwood Children's Centre, which was previously called Children's Assessment and Therapy Centre.

The Children's Assessment and Therapy Centre Trust was established in January 1973. Three professionals, Sylvia Shearer, Kay Erskine and Elsie Lucas, with a particular interest in working with developmentally delayed children at risk for learning difficulties and emotional adjustment issues, joined forces to establish the centre which arose out of the Lucigen Centre. They rented premises in Essenwood Road for a year before being able to purchase a grand old home in Harris Crescent, Sherwood, which they set about converting into offices and a small specialised pre-school.

From humble beginnings with a very small client load, the Centre grew and developed, increasing the range of services to school-going children with learning difficulties and young adults who need career direction.

In 2000 the Harris Crescent premises were re-vamped which included re-roofing the entire building and enlarging and modernizing the school.

The new premises at 868 King Cetshwayo (Jan Smuts) Highway are significantly larger, enabling the centre to meet the growing need for developmental and educational support services and schooling.

“As life has become more complicated, technology has advanced and the pace has quickened. There is a greater demand on children to acquire more complex skills and gather more information and knowledge as they are developing. Not only do some children get left behind owing to barriers to their development, which need to be removed, but conditions that may not have been that evident in the past have become more obvious. For instance, there has been an increase in children presenting with autistic spectrum disorders. The ability for hearing impaired children to have cochlear implants has increased the need for specialist skills in such areas,” said Shepstone.

The centre provides services to about 3000 children, young people and their families or caregivers every year.

“We have a great new building, which houses the therapy rooms, a hall, the pre-school as well as a new primary school, which has been built but is yet to open. All our furnishings are brand new, thanks to donors such as Afrisun, Victor Daitz Foundation, the National Lottery, Novartis, Dr Reddy, who is on our board, and the Cecil Renaud Educational Trust. We are all excited to come to work!” said Shepstone.