The Royal Blind School is Scotland's only residential school specializing in the care and education of visually impaired children and young people, including those with complex needs and visual impairment. We were founded in 1835. The Royal Blind School is a community of young people who all share the common experience of vision impairment.
We educate pupils from the ages of 5-19 and run a pre-school playgroup for blind babies and toddlers once a week. We have a high ratio of staff to pupils and employ nurses, habilitation specialists, and physiotherapists as well as teaching staff.
The school is run by the charity Royal Blind and is regulated by Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate. Pupils attend either daily or can board in our residential houses. We offer a variety of flexible residential packages, including weekly and term-time boarding as well as 52-week provision for those who require it. Our residential houses are fully accessible and designed to be a home away from home.
We tailor the care and education that we provide to each individual according to their needs. Many of our pupils have other disabilities and additional support needs as well as vision impairment and would find the large class sizes in a mainstream school difficult to manage.
We have a high ratio of staff to pupils. Our teachers either have or are working towards the Post Graduate Qualification in Education Support, Visual Impairment. All our teaching methods, and activities, and teaching resources are tailored to the needs of our pupils and our building is purpose-built for children and young people with vision impairment.
Therapists are an integral part of our team. Occupational therapy enables our pupils and young people to achieve health, well–being in everyday activities and curricular access.
Physiotherapists identify and maximize movement potential through health promotion, preventive healthcare, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Speech and language therapists assess and treat speech, language, and communication difficulties in young people to enable them to communicate to the best of their ability.
Pupils and teachers are supported by Nursery Nurses and Classroom Assistants. Our transcription staff is skilled in adapting print to Braille and adapting a range of print materials to alternative and accessible formats including Braille, audio, large print, tactile diagrams.
We also bring in body awareness and relaxation techniques to aid learning - watch our video on using 'mindfulness'. The Royal Blind School is based in the Morningside area of Edinburgh and our campus was completely re-furbished in Autumn 2015. Our building has been specially designed for visually impaired pupils with:
- All facilities for pupils on the ground floor
- Wide corridors
- Color contrasts
- Handrails to facilitate independent navigation
- Hoists
- Fully equipped disabled bathrooms.
Each room has a ‘signifier’ outside on the handrail – an object that resembles what is inside the room. These include a paintbrush for the art room, a telephone for the office and a handbag for the Head Teacher. These signifiers enable our pupils to know where they are within the building.
Our campus has:
- Hydrotherapy pool
- Swings
- Traverse climbing wall
- Soft play
- Enclosed multi-use games area
- Sensory garden
- Parents’ flat for use during times of need, such as illness or initial assessment and transition.
All this specialized equipment helps give vision impaired children and young people the additional support they need during their education.
