We raised more than $300,000 on our second-ever Giving Day appeal, supporting children who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision receive specialist education services which will help them reach their potential.

NextSense School is situated at our new centre for innovation on the Macquarie University campus. The building is custom designed for people with vision and hearing loss and also houses an inclusive preschool, as well as providing early intervention and cochlear implant services.

The School, which moved from its North Rocks location earlier this year, has purpose-built learning environments, low teacher-student ratios, and uses research to drive new teaching approaches and techniques in its dedicated Spoken Language, Sign Bilingual and Blind and Low Vision programs.

Every donation within the 24-hour Giving Day period on 19 September was matched dollar-for-dollar by generous partners including Qantas Pathfinders, Australasian College of Optical Dispensing, Corporate Match 2.0, Vivienne Court Trading, The Henson Foundation, Anton and Jenny Gaudry, John and Lynne Church, and Dr Andrew Pethebridge.

The fundraising efforts were supported by corporate volunteers from Macquarie University, Optus, SRL Sports, Pfizer Australia, and NextSense staff also jumping on the phones to help raise funds over the day.

NextSense Chief Executive Chris Rehn said he was overwhelmed by the generous support shown on Giving Day.