Parents and teachers are far from unanimous over the best way to shake up special education in Rochdale. Their differing views were aired at a Special Schools Review Panel meeting at the Town Hall this week. Rochdale Council’s Education Department has submitted a £39.7 million Private Finance Initiative Bid to the Government to build new special schools on existing mainstream sites. Some of those present at the meeting wanted total inclusion, while others wanted all children educated in the same building, but with separate facilities for the children with special needs. There are also a group of parents who are happy to keep their children in existing special schools which would close under the PFI plan.
Rochdale Observer, March 2, 2002.

The situation of a boy who was been without schooling for four years after a mainstream school, a special center and a special school refused to have him has been described as ‘completely unacceptable’ by his solicitor. After the long struggle to find a school for Jordan Hextall, his mother has instructed the solicitor to fight Sheffield LEA in court. Jordan, who is mother agrees is hard to handle, was expelled from Firth Park School within weeks of starting, aged 11, and then asked to leave a special center for expelled pupils. Dr. John Worral School, which caters for special needs children, has also refused to admit Jordan.
Sheffield Weekly Gazette, March 7, 2002.

A big shake-up in the way children with special educational needs are educated in being planned by Buckinghamshire County Council. New schools could be built which would be able to help children with complex problems. Presently such children are sent to special schools outside the county at vast expense – there are currently 130 children in special schools outside Bucks, costing the taxpayer £4 million a year. In addition some existing special schools could be amalgamated on new sites and their land sold to help fund the new buildings. Also more specialist departments are to be built at mainstream schools.
Marlow Free Press, March 8, 2002.

Special school parents have passed a vote of no confidence in Gloucester County Council’s education department claiming it has broken promises to them. The parents who are against the closure of Dean Hall School said they were still waiting for letters outlining the proposals from Charmian Sheppard, portfolio holder for education and also for her to visit the school to see how it was run. The Council wants to close the school as part of its Special Educational Needs Development Plan.
Citizen (Gloucester), March 23, 2002.

The mother of a boy who was brain damaged at birth says Bedfordshire education authority is putting other children in danger by keeping him at a mainstream school. Sonya Atthews says Dean,11, is bullied because he is different. As a result he lashes out in frustration and has a history of injuring other children. He has been excluded from lessons on occasions at Alameda Middle School because the teachers can not cope with his violent tendencies. Until recently he was made to wear a red bobble hat in the playground so that teachers can see him easily, but now he is not allowed out to play at all. Sonya said: ‘The school can’t cope and I don’t blame the staff. Now the LEA has decided that he can only go for half a day. The head of learning support said she was physically and mentally exhausted and scared’. A county council spokesman said that the education authority was awaiting advice from health colleagues in order to decide Dean’s educational needs.
Bedfordshire on Sunday, March 24, 2002.

Disabled pupils throughout North Tyneside are set to benefit from improved facilities with the help of a cash boost of over £280,00. The money will be used to fund alterations throughout mainstream schools. A North Tyneside Council spokeswoman said: ‘We are linking this with the strategic plan for Inclusive Education. The aim of the LEA is to continue and extend the focus on existing pupils with special educational needs including visual and hearing impairments, complex communication difficulties and physical difficulties’. The cash is part of a £3.8m boost for the North East which was announced by Schools Minister, Catherine Ashton. The £70 million nationwide is the second phase of the £220 million Schools Access Initiative which has increased funding for disability access substantially since 1996-7.
Wallsend News Guardian, March 28 2002.