The Rainbow Centre is a social service organisation in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. It operates three special education schools Margaret Drive School (RCMDS), Yishun Park School (RCYPS) and a third one at Woodlands, for infants, children and youths with special needs like

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

, developmental delay, and multiple disabilities. The Margaret Drive School is located at Margaret Drive near

Queenstown MRT station Queenstown MRT station is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the East West line in Queenstown, Singapore. It is built on a traffic island along Commonwealth Avenue. The station is named after Queen Elizabeth II to mark her cor ...

, while the Yishun Park School is located at Yishun Street near

Khatib MRT station Khatib MRT station is an above-ground Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North South MRT line, North South line (NSL) in Yishun, Singapore. The station is located at the junction of Yishun Ring Road and Yi ...

. Both schools currently run special education programmes and early intervention programmes.

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 Wee Kim Wee ( zh, s=黄金辉, poj=Ûiⁿ Kim-hui, p=Huáng Jīnhuī, first=s,poj,p; 4 November 1915 – 2 May 2005) was a Singaporean journalist and diplomat who served as the fourth president of Singapore from 1985 until his resignation in ...

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 Aline Wong (born Kan Lai Chung, in 1941) is a Singaporean sociologist and former politician. She was one of the first women Parliament members in Singapore, elected in 1984. She went on to have a career in both politics and education. In 2001, s ...

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 Pathlight School is a special school for high-functioning children with autism in Singapore. Founded in 2004, it is run by the non-profit Autism Resource Centre and comprises one half of the national educational provision for autistic children. ...

in January 2004. This is an autism specific mainstream school for children with autism aged between six and sixteen years old. In 2006, in an attempt to prevent their students from being labelled, Margaret Drive Special School was renamed Rainbow Centre Margaret Drive School (RCMDS) and Balestier Special School was renamed Rainbow Centre Yishun Park School (RCYPS). In 2018, Rainbow Centre Yishun Park School (RCYPS) opened at 11 Marsiling Lane, Singapore 739148 in

Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to: * Woodland, a low-density forest Geography Australia * Woodlands, New South Wales * Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper * Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...

. It is an interim site which took over the space previously occupied by

Si Ling Secondary School The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes Pleonasm#Acronyms and initialisms, pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most wid ...

. It will subsequently move to its purpose-built campus at Admiralty Link from 2022.

References

External links

Rainbow Centre
Singapore. Disability organisations based in Singapore Singaporean voluntary welfare organisations Child-related organisations in Singapore {{Singapore-company-stub