Background:
Dekalim High school in Be’er Sheva is a regional school center for youth with special needs that also serves as a community center. The school provides unique support for 110 students aged 13-21 who are diagnosed with mild retardation.
Purpose:
The school develops and cultivates the student’s skills for integration into the community, with an emphasis on life skills and preparation for the employment life towards the age of 21.
The school’s educational approach is based on the humanistic approach: recognition of student education and his right to fulfill his cognitive, functional, emotional and social abilities while cultivating his unique desires and talents as a basis for learning, preparation for life, and integration into the community.
In accordance with the needs of students with special needs, the classes contain a relatively small number of students, up to 12 students per class. The staff is adapted to the needs of the students, including educators, a professional paramedical staff, assistants and volunteers.
On the one hand, the school places great emphasis on the social and community life of the students, and on the other hand, on educational and medical treatment. The treatment classes are provided by paramedical teams with the goal of empowering them, providing solutions to their needs and helping them integrate into the community.
The necessity to build a multi-purpose hall:
The assistance and treatment of students present a great challenge in many aspects, the most prominent being the lack of space for school gatherings, social activities, and rooms for individual treatments such as physiotherapy, art therapy, occupational therapy, bibliotherapy, speech therapy and more.
The size of the school and the building was adapted to the needs of a relatively small population and suited the needs of the past. But these days, the lack of space in the school, does not allow efficient individual work which limits the school in the absorption of new students.
The Be’er Sheva municipality in cooperation with the school administration and the Be’er Sheva Foundation, are promoting a project for the construction of a multipurpose hall and treatment rooms. As part of the project, a unique sports hall is planned for the special needs community. The hall will serve students to develop their motor and physical abilities, thereby helping them develop as independent adults. In the afternoon and evening, the hall will serve children and youth with special needs for activities and social integration.
For the purpose of the project, the Municipality of Be’er Sheva allocated an area near the school.
