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The History of General Santos City SPED Integerated school

The General Santos City SPED Integrated School was established in 1997 as a special public elementary  school to address the educational needs of exceptional children.

The school has 37 classrooms occupying a portion of the school site of its mother school, the P. Acharon Sr. Elem. School while its permanent site of 2 hectares at San Isidro, General Santos City is initially opened this school year to house the 3rd year and 4th year students while the first year and second year students are still at the present site with the elementary children. The present location of the school is situated in the heart of the poblacion.

The school was converted into an integrated school, the first of its kind in Region XII in schoolyear 2000 – 2001 when it expanded its curriculum breath to secondary level due to the persistent demands of parents particularly parents of handicapped children.

The Thrust and Mission of the school has directed its services to offer diverse educational programmes and curriculum to address the educational needs of eight (8) types of exceptional children namely: Gifted/Talented/Fast Learner, Mentally Challenged, Behavioral Problem, Specific Learning Disabilities, Visually Impaired, Hearing Impaired, Orthopedically Handicapped, Multiple Handicapped and children with autism.

The school offers preschool and complete basic education with unified and flexible curriculum that range from regular, modified and special.

General Santos City SPED Integrated School as the Division Special Education Resources Center per DECS Order No. 11, s. 2000 has expanded its services across the different sectors and community agencies through consultative services, curriculum review and planning, psychoeducational assessment, homebound instruction, parent education, teacher training, referral, advocacy and information and development of instructional materials.

True to its vision, the General Santos City SPED Integrated School with its 39 committed, caring and competent teachers, dynamics and high profile school leadership in collaboration with supportive parents and stakeholders has marked itself as one of the high performing schools in Region XII. It became a feeder school of state universities and special science high schools and other prestigious private schools not only in Region XII but also in the other places of the country. It has produced globally – competitive students who are recipients of international scholarship in Singapore, New Zealand and in the United States.

The exemplary performance of the students has attracted enrollees not only from the different barangays of the city but even from different places of Region XII and neighboring regions, Thus, its enrolment has risen to a height that has made the school as red coded.

Inspite of its limitations in terms of human, physical and financial resources and still in its early stage of operation, it has consistently demonstrated through the years its effectiveness as a laboratory of learning and life as evidenced by its various recognitions and commendations from the Department of Education such as the 2000 – 2001 Most Effective Public Elementary School (Non – Central School Category); 2002 – 2003 Most Effective Special Education Resource Center in Region XII and 2003 – 2004, Most Outstanding Special Education Resource Center in the Philippines (Mindanao Area).

Records will also reveal that the elementary department has zero (0) dropout since its establishment in 1997 while the high school department has only one (1) dropout since its operation in 2000. Another remarkable feature of General Santos City SPED Integrated School is its zero (0) failure of pupils and students. Its indeed a school where every child can learn and every teacher can be successful.

On SY 2006 – 2007 up to the present the school has earned the reputation as the center of “Academic Excellence” being the number one (1) high performing school in General Santos City.