Rainbow Centre

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For the Nottingham-based organisation, see Sumac Centre.

The Rainbow Centre is a voluntary welfare organisation in Singapore. It operates two special schools, the Margaret Drive Special School (MDSS) and Balestier Special School for children with special needs like autism, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities. The centre is located at Margaret Drive in Queenstown, near a church.

[edit] History

Margaret Drive Special School started out in 1987 to cater to children with multiple handicaps. In 1989, the school introduced the programme called Structured Teaching for Exceptional Pupils (STEP) for autistic children aged between two and twelve years. In 1992, the Rainbow Centre was established, with Ee Peng Liang as the first Honorary Patron.

In 1995, Rainbow Centre set up the Balestier Special School at NcNair Road as its second school, which was officially opened by Wee Kim Wee on 1 October 1996.

The Margaret Drive School later moved to a new purpose-built building with special facilities to cater to the needs of children with different learning difficulties. The building was officially opened by Aline Wong on 19 July 1999.

A programme called Rainbow Link was launched in 2002 to promote volunteerism, through support, services and education. Rainbow Centre and Autism Resource Centre jointly started the Pathlight School in January 2004. This is an autism specific mainstream school for children with autism aged between six and sixteen years old.