Press release
Scotland’s largest visual impairment charity, Sight Scotland, has appointed a new Head of Learning to lead the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh and the charity’s growing education outreach service.
Starting in post today (Dec 7), Lucy Chetty comes to Sight Scotland after serving as Head Teacher at Scottish Autism’s New Struan School.
As Head of Learning, Ms Chetty will lead the Royal Blind School, which is run by Sight Scotland and provides specialist education, care and learning to children and young people with visual impairment, including those with additional complex needs.
Sight Scotland’s education outreach service, which she will also head, currently provides support to children and young people with visual impairment in East Lothian, Midlothian and the Orkney Islands.
Sight Scotland, formerly known as Royal Blind, launched its new name and brand in October this year alongside the charity’s new vision to reach even more people with sight loss and their families in Scotland.
With qualifications in Headship and extensive experience of educational leadership roles, leading in residential specialist additional support needs (ASN) provisions and partnership working in the third sector, Ms Chetty will be instrumental in the leadership and strategic development of Sight Scotland’s education services as the charity strives to provide life-changing support to even more people affected by visual impairment.
Lucy Chetty, Head of Learning, Sight Scotland, said: “I am delighted to be leading the Royal Blind School and to be part of developing bespoke education services with Sight Scotland, and I’m very much looking forward to getting to know the young people Sight Scotland supports, as well as their families.
“I’m excited to be joining a charity that has such a long history of supporting people with sight loss in Scotland, and to be joining on its journey of shaping a future of supporting even more children and young people with visual impairment.
“Helping young people with additional support needs to thrive and flourish has always been where my passion in education lies. I look forward to bringing my leadership experiences within specialist contexts to support the development of individualised approaches of education to the role. I feel excited about the opportunities to develop meaningful and trusting relationships and partnerships.”
Hawys Kilday, Director of Services, Sight Scotland, said: “I am delighted to welcome Lucy Chetty to Sight Scotland and to have her on board as we continue to provide leading specialist education to our pupils at the Royal Blind School and further develop our education outreach service with local authorities and education settings in Scotland.
“The number of people who are blind or partially sighted in Scotland is set to increase by 30,000 in the next decade to over 200,000. We are dedicated to reaching out to even more people with visual impairment, with our specialist education services providing the best learning and life skills learning for even more pupils with visual impairment in mainstream schools, as well as in our specialist school, the Royal Blind School.”
ENDS
