On a lovely sunny spring day, Variety was delighted to present a Sunshine Coach to the children and staf at Hall School in Norwich. This was possible thanks to the generous support of The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation.

The 17 seater coach which has a tail-lift will be used to transport the children and young people at Hall School on a number of educational and social outings.

Hall School is an inner city school that caters for 78 pupils aged from 3 to 19, who have significant and complex needs including severe learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder and multi-sensory impairment. All pupils hold a full SEN statement and 8 students are wheelchair users. The Variety Sunshine Coach will replace the school’s only wheelchair-accessible vehicle, a 14-year-old Variety coach, which, over the years, has been much needed and well used, but is now showing serious signs of deterioration. The new Variety Sunshine Coach will offer the children the opportunity to develop their learning and enrich their experiences by providing easy access to their local community.

This is the 55th Variety Sunshine Coach to be funded by The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation.

Headteacher Keith Mckenzie commented:

“Everyone at Hall Complex Needs Special School is thrilled to hear the news about our new coach. We are extremely grateful to the Variety, the Children’s Charity and Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation for their kind support. The new Sunshine Coach, which has a tail lift for wheelchair access, will transform learning opportunities for our wonderful students. This coach will allow students with complex needs and severe learning difficulties to experience activities within beautiful Norfolk and beyond”.