Welcome to the Alpha School
The Alpha School is truly a unique environment for children
with special needs. Each child is accepted as an individual
with their own unique areas of strength and areas that require
special attention.
Our certified teachers, therapists and assistants are very committed to their work at Alpha School. We have very little turnover of staff. Our gym and art teacher have been with us
for over twenty five years. The average length of time that our teaching staff has been working with us is 10 years. There are
a large number of assistants who have worked with us for more than 15 years. This consistency and continuity of our dedicated employees allows our students to work with staff who have developed a high degree of expertise in all areas of special education
The best way to introduce you to our school is to give you some
of the words that our parents use to describe their child’s school. They use words like inviting, relaxed, secure, friendly, caring, warm, nurturing, family oriented, comforting, organized, welcoming, professional, positive, happy, up lifting and supportive. There is no other way to say it better than that.
View our award winning documentary titled I am an artist. This preview represents the heartwarming documentary about how art can transform a child with a variety of disabilites, to an artist having their creations in a gallery.
What's New at Alpha
We just had a visit from Holiday Express on December 2nd. Our staff, students and their families had been engaged in a year long fundraising event for Holiday Express. Our goal was $1,000. We exceeded our goal and raised $3,050.00. We presented the monies to Tim McLoone who is the founder of Holiday Express. He was very touched by our gift. It is our hope that this donation will help him to continue the great work that he is doing to bring joy to those that are in most need during the holiday season. We had a great time at the Holiday Express event. Everyone danced and sang. It was a fabulous experience. You could actually feel the joy that was being shared by all in attendance.
Student Life
The students at Alpha are busy preparing for the holidays. Our Holiday Show will be held on December 14th and 15th. Students and staff have been busy practicing. Each class is also involved a tree decorating contest. Each class picks a theme for their tree and then they decorate it accordingly. We will be voting for the best tree and the winning class will get to have a party.
We also just completed our annual food drive for the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties in Neptune. We are pleased to announce that our school collected the highest poundage per student, 90 pounds. So for the second year in a row we were awarded the School Holiday Hunger Challenge Champion Award. On Monday, December 5th, Eileen Trainor who coordinated the drive, and other staff and students attended an award ceremony at the FoodBank to receive their awards. We are very proud of our students and staff commitment to helping those in need and for their efforts in collecting all the food that will help others in need.
After the Holiday break we will be starting up two Boy Scout Groups. One for younger students and one for older students. The Boy Scout organization will be sending some of their staff to work with our students. We are looking forward to this new addition to our school program.
Teachers Corner
Our teachers are working very hard to become familiar with our newly purchased I-Pad’s and the apps that are available. Lisa Glassford who is our technology coordinator, is training staff on the use of the I-Pad with our students. Some staff will also be attending workshops that will give them more information about the I-Pad’s use in the classroom and therapy setting. Judi Hall who is an occupational therapist, is using the I-Pad to develop social stories that will enhance our students abilities to deal with social situations and with situations in the community. It is evident that technology can enhance programming for our students.