Government plans for special needs education have been blasted by a charity devoted to inclusive schooling. The way special needs children are taught in Welsh schools is undergoing a major review, but Westminster plans have been denounced for perpetuating ‘prejudice and discrimination’. The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education says proposals to retain separate schools for these pupils will work against the long-term interests of disabled people. The Welsh Assembly’s Education and Life Long Learning Committee is due to review certain aspects of special educational needs such as early identification and intervention, transition between primary and secondary school and Welsh-medium provision. Study groups have been set up to review different aspects of how special needs is delivered in Wales. Three development officers have been appointed to advance the quality of special needs provision. Among the tasks is to ensure proper provision for youngsters with sensory impairment, the needs of autistic children and those with special health needs are also being investigated.
Western Mail (Cardiff), February 5, 2004.
Three Cambridge colleges have knocked on the head the image of their university being full of stuck-up rich kids — by taking all their students from a state education background. The colleges’ success in recruiting 100 per cent. of their students from the state sector for the first time contrasts sharply with claims of ‘elitism’ which were triggered last year after another Cambridge college rejected three of the country’s top performing state-school pupils. Janet Graham, the university’s admissions officer, said young people were put off Cambridge because of fear they were not good enough and ‘fear of the university environment — that Cambridge is not for them, full of stuck-up, rich kids and intelligent professors not in the real world and lots of awe-inspiring old buildings. It’s not really like that and this message needs to be pushed harder.’
Independent on Sunday, February 8, 2004.
Frank Barnes School, in North London, is one of the few schools in the UK to offer bilingual teaching: with British sign language the first language and English the second. According to Karen Simpson, head teacher, sign bilingualism offers deaf children a chance of real academic achievement. ‘If you give a child sign language as a first language from birth and then educated in that first language, deaf children can expect the same academic achievement as hearing children.’ In her view low academic achievement in deaf children boils down to the delay in their acquisition of language. Sign from the start, she says, and deaf children go through the same language acquisition stages as hearing children, even baby babbling in sign. Teach in sign and there will be no impaired academic performance.
Sunday Times, February 8, 2004.
The Government will underline a continuing role for special schools in educating children with special educational needs tomorrow, but as part of a more mainstream programme involving all schools working together. The education secretary, Charles Clarke, will announce the strategy for special educational needs, setting out the most sweeping changes to the sector for decades. In an interview with Education Guardian, Mr. Clarke admits that the previous policy is ripe for improvement and that partnership is key to success.
The Guardian, February 10, 2004.
A teacher stopped a special needs boy from chatting in class by taping his mouth shut. Eleven-year-old Ben Deacy’s shocked Mum found out when he got home with his daily report. The teacher had written: ‘Excellent work – once I taped his mouth up!’ Ben is part of a small group in a special needs class at Llanrumney High School in Cardiff. The school’s head teacher, Don Barnfield, said that an inexperience member of teaching staff had made a grave error and he would need to take appropriate action. He added: ‘It’s an extremely demanding job with pupils who often have behavioural and learning difficulties. The teacher is hard working but not terribly experienced. The tape was not put the long way over his mouth. It was a small piece going from the top to the bottom lip and wasn’t blocking his breathing. It was not malicious and there was no attempt to harm him’. A Cardiff Council spokeswoman said:’ Appropriate processes are in place and relevant actions are being considered. Investigations will be carried out.’
Daily Star, February 11, 2004.
A strategy to raise the achievement of special needs pupils was launched this week amid complaints by a charity which offers advice to parents. The Independent Panel for Special Education Advice said the strategy ‘Removing Barriers to Achievement’ did nothing to address the ‘common-place, chronic, deliberate law-breaking on the part of local authorities. IPSEA has written to the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, to complain about five local education authorities — Essex, East Sussex and the London Boroughs of Barnet, Hackney, and Islington, which it claims have acted unreasonably and failed to fulfill their duty to special needs children. All five deny the charge. John Wright, IPSEA spokesman, said that the Government’s plan failed to recognise the need for an independent agency to enforce the law.
Times Educational Supplement, February 13, 2004.
Education Bradford was under fire today after a report into special needs said discontent with the service was ‘heartfelt, deep-rooted and longstanding’. It said some teachers regarded the state of the service as ‘a mess’ and highlighted problems including a lack of educational psychologists and problems with the bidding process for funding. Education expert David Tweddle, the report’s author, talked to head teachers and special needs co-ordinators about the service. He said Education Bradford, the private company which runs education services in the district, had to show it was prepared to turn it around. He said in the report: ‘There was a clear feeling among many head teachers that special educational needs has never been a priority for Education Bradford, that it should be prioritized and that Education Bradford needs to demonstrate it has the capacity and the will to sort it out’.
Telegraph and Argus (Bradford), February 14, 2004.
The battle for special schools in Gloucestershire looks lost. Campaigners have been fighting to save Alderman Knight, Battledown and Belmont for children with moderate learning difficulties. But a county council document, leaked exclusively to the Echo, reveals that the Battledown Children’s Centre in Cheltenham is likely to close. Alderman Knight in Tewkesbury and Cheltenham’s Belmont may be saved — but only for children with severe learning disabilities. Those with moderate learning difficulties are set to be integrated into mainstream schools.
Gloucestershire Echo, February 17, 2004.
Three more Dumbarton primary schools have been targeted for closure, The Lennox can reveal. Dalreoch, Braehead, and Aitkenpar primaries look set to be axed under West Dunbartonshire Council’s regeneration plan. And all the pupils are to be transferred to a new ‘super school’ within the grounds of Dumbarton Academy. Raging mum Gillian Bolton — whose son is autistic and has special needs — blasted: ‘It has taken two years of intensive therapy at nursery to prepare my son for mainstream school and it looks as though that has been a waste of time. I chose Dalreoch Primary because of its small class sizes. There is no way my son could go to one of these super schools. He just would not cope with the large number of pupils.’
The Lennox, February 27, 2004.
Newham has been named as one of 14 successful local education authorities that will get a share of a £2.2 billion Government initiative to rebuild or refurbish secondary schools in two years. Newham submitted a bid under the first wave of the Building Schools for the Future initiative for the £160 million to fund a programme of school building development. Newham stands to receive funding for new buildings that are equipped to deliver for the twenty-first century, with state-of-the-art information technology facilities and are fully accessible to support the borough’s inclusive education policy.
Newham Magazine, February 28, 2004.
