Royal occasion for the children of Donaldson’s

Oct 22 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

DONALDSON’S School had a visit from a very special guest last week.

HRH The Princess Royal arrived at the school in Linlithgow for an official tour and was greeted by excited pupils waving the Saltires and Lion Rampants.

During her visit Princess Anne toured the purpose-built premises and met pupils, parents and staff who demonstrated the work carried out by the school with children who are deaf or have communication difficulties.

The tour included watching a reading session in the school’s well equipped library and attending an art class with some of Donaldson’s highly talented art students.

Before leaving, The Princess Royal signed Donaldson’s visitors’ book and received a commemorative photograph of the school from pupil, Kashif Anwar and a posy of flowers from Jessica Campbell.

Speaking about the event, principal, Janice MacNeill commented: “The school was honoured to have a visit from The Princess Royal and it has been an exciting day for our pupils, staff and parents.

“It has been a terrific opportunity to showcase our lovely purpose built school and to show how it has enriched the lives of our pupils.

“Our team of dedicated staff are delighted to have their work recognised in this way and we will all remember this day for the rest of our lives.”

Donaldson’s, based in Preston Road, is one of the seven national Grant Aided Special Schools (GASS) supported by the Scottish Government to provide education, therapy and care for pupils who are deaf or have severe speech and language difficulties.

Donaldson’s is a bilingual community encouraging the use of both British Sign Language (BSL) and English.