Baroness Warnock, the architect of the drive towards teaching special needs children in mainstream schools, is to deliver a damning indictment of the system. Mary Warnock, whose report on special education 25 years ago began the move towards greater inclusion, is calling for ‘a radical review’ of procedures. In a pamphlet to be published by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, she says the pressure to include pupils with special needs in mainstream schools caused ‘confusion of which children are the casualties’. She says she wants to see an independent committee of inquiry set up to investigate how the policy is operating. She also calls for a review of the statementing process whereby parents can apply for a statement of their children’s needs, claiming it is ‘wasteful and bureaucratic’ and ‘must be abolished’. Her U turn is confirmed just a day after the Conservatives called for a moratorium on special-school closures claiming the number of places has been reduced by 6,000 since 1997. She says support for inclusion springs from ‘hearts in the right place’ but describes its implementation as a ‘disastrous legacy’.
The Independent, June 9, 2005

Pressure is mounting on the Government to dramatically reform special needs education. Families and politicians who oppose putting pupils with educational or behavioural difficulties in mainstream classes intensified their protests after the woman behind the policy admitted it was not working. Baroness Warnock said inclusion was failing thousands of children. Tory education spokesman David Cameron, whose three-year-old son has cerebral palsy and epilepsy said: ‘We have been saying for some time that the system isn’t working properly. Special schools are closing, parents are being denied choice and the statementing process has become a total nightmare.’ Douglas Carswell, Tory MP for Harwich, who has been campaigning against the closure of The Leas special school in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, added: ‘I have seen at first hand some of the consequences of this policy of inclusion and it is immoral. Some of the most vulnerable people are being forced to go to schools where they will be bullied. It’s pathetic to talk about parent power when there are parents whose children’s education hangs on the whim of some unaccountable remote bureaucrat.’
Daily Mail, June 10, 2005

Parents facing the closure of their children’s special schools have accused ‘flagship’ Tory councils of ignoring the Conservative Party’s stance against closures. The debate over special needs education resurfaced last week when Baroness Warnock admitted that the inclusion agenda had failed. Her comments were made as local authorities review their special needs provision. In many cases this involves closing schools to put children with mild learning difficulties and behaviour problems into mainstream schools or into bigger special schools with a more varied intake. Despite their party’s anti-closure stance a number of Conservative councils are forging ahead with proposals to close special schools. They include Wandsworth, Essex and Dorset Councils. One parent who is against the closure of Chartfield School in Putney, accused Wandsworth Council of ‘child abuse’. However, a Council spokesman said the Council was not anti-special school. He said the changes were as much about complexity of need as about inclusion.
Sunday Telegraph, June 12, 2005

Writing in the Sunday Times Correspondence Page, Simone Aspis, of the British Council of Disabled People, which represents more than 130 groups run by disabled people, says that many of them attended special schools and were subjected to bullying, verbal, physical and emotional abuse and did not learn the range of subjects offered to non-disabled pupils. ‘Nobody would suggest opening up ‘special’ schools for black children or Jewish children if they experience racism or anti-semitism…why should it be any different for disabled children?’
Sunday Times, June 19, 2005

The parents of Alexander Castillejo have vowed to take Wandsworth Council to court if his needs are not met when his special school, The Vines, closes. Carlos Castillejo, father of five-year-old Alexander described The Vines as a godsend and disputed that the pupils needs could be met in mainstream schools. He said many children could end up being expelled from mainstream schools that did not have the skills, the facilities, or the will to integrate new pupils successfully.
Evening Standard (London), June 21, 2005

Angry parents last night vowed to save Anglesey’s only special needs school. Education bosses plan to split Ysgol Y Bont, which stands in a Llangefni industrial estate, into two sites miles apart. Pupils would face long journeys to school if the plans are approved. The present building, a 1960s pre-fabricated wooden structure, is said to be unsuitable and in need of re-building. Geraint Ellis, Anglesey Council head of education services, said the plans were still under consideration. Two options had been presented to parents but neither were welcomed. Under one, Ysgol Y Bont would be housed in a unit attached to a primary school. Pupils with moderate learning difficulties would be integrated into mainstream education, cutting pupil numbers from 76 to about 60. Under the other option there would be two units, primary and secondary, one attached to a new primary school and the other sharing the site with the local comprehensive.
Daily Post, June 22, 2005

The mother of a nine-year-old girl who was discriminated against by her former school because of her learning difficulties has hit out at the school’s failure to apologise. Sancton Wood School in Cambridge discriminated against Agnes Meakin by delaying and imposing conditions to her entry to the junior school, according to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST). Agnes’s Mum, 44-year-old Mary Meakin, said: ‘They have been ordered by the Tribunal to apologise but they haven’t. It feels like they are laughing at us’. A spokesman for SENDIST said the tribunal did not have the power to deal with schools which failed to implement an order. He added that Mr. and Mrs Meakin should report the school to the Department of Education and Skills about its failure to carry out the Tribunal’s order.
Cambridge Evening News, June 23, 2005

A leading children’s charity has said it is alarmed by Baroness Warnock withdrawing her support for including disabled children in mainstream schools. Lady Warnock published a pamphlet setting out the reasons why she no longer thought such a policy of inclusion was healthy. Chris Osborne, policy adviser at the Children’s Society, expressed concern at Lady Warnock’s remarks. ‘The Children’s Society is alarmed at the negative picture of inclusive education that has emerged following Baroness Warnock’s U-turn on inclusive education for disabled children. Developing schools in a way that all children can flourish give disabled children an opportunity to belong and participate in their communities. Inclusion promotes familiarity and tolerance. It also reduces fear and rejection and improves achievement for all. Despite the Government’s commitment to embed inclusion in every school, discriminatory attitudes towards those with special needs still exist today. Our vision of seeing children grow up together, not apart from one another, will only become a reality when the rights and needs of all young people are taken seriously.’
PA News Wire, June 29, 2005