The Association for Persons with Special Needs (“APSN Society”) was established in 1976. It caters to the educational and vocational needs of persons with mild intellectual disability (“MID”). The four APSN Schools – Chaoyang School, Katong School, Tanglin School and Delta Senior School, provide a holistic and age-appropriate developmental curriculum that facilitates the attainment of nationally recognised certification approved by the MOE for children and young adults aged 6 to 20 (as at 1 January of the year of admission) with MID. APSN Centre for Adults provides our beneficiaries with training, re-skilling, vocational and social skills which are important for Adulthood, Employment and Lifelong Learning, after they leave the APSN Schools. APSN Student Care Centre provides before and after school care services for children with MID.

To recognise these principal programmes and to further its activities and collaborations with more focus, APSN Society has restructured such that the activities would be carried out by (1) APSN Education Services Ltd.; & (2) APSN Ltd., with effect from 1 April 2021.

The 2 new entities are companies limited by guarantee (“CLG”) and have been incorporated.

We want to explain how this restructuring will impact you as some of you may have concerns. In general, there will not be any changes to the operational protocols and agreed activities, the only changes will be to the contracting and payment entities.

APSN Education Services Ltd. (“APSN Schools”)

APSN Schools will be centred on the Special Education (“SPED”) Schools which provide special education for the beneficiaries at Chaoyang School, Katong School, Tanglin School and Delta Senior School.

APSN Ltd. (“APSN Centres”)

APSN Centres would engage in activities and services centred on providing sheltered workshop, training for employment and re-skilling, provision of recreational activities, before and after school care centres, sale of products made by beneficiaries, and any other activities related to the welfare of MID children and adults, outside of the SPED Schools.

What This Means To You

Parents/Guardians & Caregivers – The services provided to our beneficiaries will continue uninterrupted and will not be affected in anyway. There may be some administrative adjustments, including re-application of GIRO payment arrangements for school fees. We will work together with the parents/guardians & caregivers to ensure transition occurs as seamlessly as possible to minimise any administrative impact.

Partners – There will be a change in the entity engaging with you in that the existing contracts may be reallocated accordingly between APSN Education Services Ltd. and APSN Ltd. We will contact you separately with the relevant details.

Donors – All donations which have not been expended to date will be transferred to APSN Ltd. or APSN Education Services Ltd. as designated by donors. We would be grateful for donors to continue to support the programmes of APSN Ltd. and APSN Education Services Ltd. in the future with their donations.

Suppliers – The existing relationship between suppliers and APSN entities will remain status quo. There will be a change in the contracting entity, but aside from that all other conditions remain status quo.

Volunteers – As APSN moves on to transfer its operations to the CLGs, we will be reviewing the roles and manner in which our volunteers may contribute. The outcomes and well-being of our beneficiaries and staff are our utmost priority when accepting volunteers.

Logistical Information

We will continue to operate from the same premises and there is no change to the address, emails, contact numbers nor your contact persons at APSN. However if you have any queries related to the restructuring, please contact us at email: admin@apsn.org.sg. We thank you for your continued support and partnership which has been instrumental in enabling APSN to succeed in serving the needs of its beneficiaries.

Yours faithfully,

Tan Cheen Chong
President
Association for Persons with Special Needs