Health staff dress down to raise cash for Special School

Date published: 13 March 2012

Health Staff have raised almost £150 for a special school by ditching their suits and shirts, for denims and t-shirts.

Staff from NHS Bury ‘dress down’ once a month to raise cash for a local good cause. In exchange for dressing in casual clothes, staff each donate £1 to a nominated charity. The latest charity to benefit is Millwood Special School's Equipment Fund.

Millwood Special Primary School located on Fletcher Fold Road Bury is a special school for children with learning difficulties. Millwood caters for around 80 children between the ages of two and 11 years, who have a range of special needs. Millwood aims to foster every pupil’s academic, social, physical and emotional development by providing a happy, positive and secure environment and meeting every child’s needs through a range of interventions.

Specialist equipment such as ICT equipment to aid learning and communication, and specialist seating equipment is needed to support the children in achieving their potential.

The money raised by staff at NHS Bury will go towards purchasing more specialist equipment for the benefit of the children in the future.

Since starting their dress down fund raising efforts, NHS Bury staff have collected money for Bury Hospice, Age UK Bury, the Pakistan Flood Appeal and Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, to name just a few.

Millwood Special School is due to relocate to brand new premises in Radcliffe in a few weeks. The new larger premises will boast a main building with separate areas for children with varying needs.

There will be 14 classrooms and a hydrotherapy room. There will also be staff and training areas and a library. Outside there will be sensory gardens and a multi-use games area for children to play in a safe and nurturing environment.

Paul Horrocks, Locality Chairman for NHS Bury said: “We are really pleased to be able to support Millwood School in this way. They do some fantastic work, supporting children with learning difficulties and helping them to achieve their full potential. Dress down day has two main benefits; it’s good for our beneficiaries, and also for our staff. It’s something our teams look forward to at the end of the month and it changes the face of the working day.”

Jill Tierney, Assistant Headteacher at Millwood Special Primary School added: "The new school building is absolutely fantastic and we are really looking forward to beginning our new "Millwood life" there.”

“However, specialist equipment is so very expensive. Because of this we have had to rely on the generosity of others to help purchase what our children deserve. We are extremely grateful to the NHS staff for thinking of us and raising money on their dress down day. We hope that they will come and visit us when we move to see how the money is being spent. From all the children and staff at Millwood School - Thank you!”

Anybody wishing to contribute to the Millwood Special School Equipment Fund should contact the school via millwood@bury.gov.uk