A mum whose young son has special needs today condemned plans for a shake-up of the education, he receives. Ruth Mason, whose 12-year-old son Amos has severe learning difficulties, has attacked Lancashire County Council after it said it was considering closing some special needs schools as pupils move into mainstream classes. But Ruth believes that the education that special needs children receive is fine. Her son is a pupil at the Peartree Special School, Kirkham. She believes the Council should be opening more schools like this rather than closing them.
Lancashire Evening Post, February 4, 2002.

Pupils at a Birmingham secondary school have added sign language to their normal lessons — to prepare for the pioneering transfer of deaf pupils from a city special school. Hodge Hill will be the only school in Europe to combine with a school for hearing impaired pupils when it links up permanently with Braidwood School in Erdington. A £3.5 million building programme is due to begin at Hodge Hill School in March to accommodate the innovative partnership. Braidwood pupils aged 11– 16 will transfer gradually to Hodge Hill, accompanied by their staff who are all qualified in using sign language.
Birmingham Post, February 8, 2002.

The mother of an autistic child was today celebrating a double success after securing funding for her son’s pioneering education and raising thousands of pounds at a charity evening. Ainsley Johnson can now look forward to three-year-old Joseph receiving full-time, mainstream teaching after Education Bradford agreed to fund his special tutoring. And more than £3,000 was raised at the charity night for Joseph. An Education Bradford spokesman said that a course of action had been proposed which included funding an applied behaviour plan.
Bradford Telegraph and Argus, February 14, 2002.

The Guernsey Education Council are meeting staff and parents of children at the island’s special needs schools to discuss special needs provision. Council President Martin Ozanne said that Guernsey did not want to follow the UK model of mixing mainstream and special needs schools which had ‘gone along this route to the full extent’. He said the Council wanted to look at a tailor-made Guernsey solution to special needs provision.
Guernsey Weekly Press and Star, February 7, 2002.

Parents and youngsters can find out more about how changes in legislation for disabled pupils will affect them. The Include Me event organised by Scope, which campaigns for people with cerebral palsy, and Stockton Parent Support will be at the Oakwood Centre on Saturday, March 9. The aim is to help launch a new group called Mainstream Matters for parents of children with special needs in mainstream schools.
Teesside Evening Gazette, February 15, 2002.

Education chiefs have been grilled by parents and staff over proposals to close a Gorton school for children with learning difficulties. Representatives from Gorton Brook School, Manchester, including head teacher, Ivor John, governors and concerned parents, attended a meeting organised by the Local Education Authority. A period of consultation on the proposals ends today and a decision will be taken in May on whether the school will close. The meeting held at Manchester City Football Club was presented by Jackie Harrop, head of the LEA’s access and inclusion branch, and Linda Malloy, member of the special needs team.
Moston, Middleton and Blackley Express, February 22, 2002.

Work has started in Witney on the first primary school in Oxfordshire to provide education for mainstream children and those with special needs under one roof. Madley Brook and Springfield Primary School is being built on the new Madley Park development. The new primary school is due to open in March 2003 and Springfield school will move from its existing premises in the summer of 2003. The new school will include nine classrooms for mainstream pupils and seven for children with learning disabilities. There will be one integrated nursery and one special school nursery. Head of Springfield School, Christina Niner, said: ‘We are extremely fortunate to be included in this exciting development. Our pupils for the first time will have access to a purpose built-school designed to meet their needs.’
Oxford Mail, February 25, 2002.

The number of disabled staff recruited to Wolverhampton schools is well below target, councillors have been told. Councillors fear people are being put off school jobs because of access problems to the buildings. The target figure is that disabled people make up six per cent of staff in city schools but only four per cent of applicants for teaching posts are disabled.
Wolverhampton Chronicle, February 25, 2002.