New home for Windmill Services

A specialised care programme for children with disabilities has found a new home after being forced from its premises in South Dunedin.

Access Home Health's Windmill Services programme was established four years ago, and has had a nomadic existence ever since, having moved several times since it was opened in Dunedin.

It has been in the former St Patrick's School in South Dunedin since March last year, but has had to move again to make way for the new An-Nur Kiwi Academy (Muslim boys' boarding school) which has bought the site.

Windmill Services child and adolescent manager Graeme Pearson said the organisation had found a new home at Carisbrook Heights (the former Calton Hill School) and it would move in next Monday.

He said the search for new premises to which the 130 children on its books could be moved had not been an easy process, and finding the new premises had relieved concerns.

''It's brilliant.

''There's been a great sigh of relief from staff and parents,'' he said.

''There's been a lot of uncertainty, and this has put their minds at ease.

''Our options were fairly limited. It was difficult to find a new home, especially at a price that worked for the organisation.''

Mr Pearson said the new site was excellent and Carisbrook School principal Ben Sincock had been good to deal with.

''It's single storey, it has good access for people with disabilities and it's a good, safe area.''

Staff and families at Windmill Services will be formally welcomed by the school in a Pasifika-style celebration on November 27.

- john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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