Fundraising continues at St Wilfrid’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Northwich to raise £9,000 each year to pay for an educational assistant for seven-year-old Sam Walker. Cheshire County Council has refused to fund an assistant for Sam on the grounds that it is an inefficient use of resources, but Sam has become such an important part of school life at St. Wilfrid’s that everyone wants to keep him there. However, his mother Denise says the constant worry over money takes its toll. ‘Sam is flourishing at St. Wilfrid’s and we are determined to keep him there, but the continual need to raise money is draining’.
Winsford Chronicle, April 7, 1998.

Two Milton Keynes youngsters with special needs were the victims of ‘injustice’ at the hands of Buckinghamshire County Council. Ombudsman Jerry White found the Council guilty of maladministration in the cases of Joanne Barker and Matthew Boyd-Gravell. Matthew’s mum, Chris, said: ‘The Council misled us and used delaying tactics to try to avoid its legal duty to properly fund our children’s education. It was devastating to be treated so badly by those who are supposed to be public servants. Now they are being told to put their house in order we hope other parents will not have to face the same struggle’.
Stony Stratford and Wolverton Observer, April 8, 1998.

Extra government funding to make Teeside schools more accessible to disabled children is not enough says a local MP. Nearly £119,000 to be shared between the area’s schools is just ‘crumbs from the table’, according to Labour backbencher Frank Cook, MP for Stockton North. The money was promised this week by Education Minister Estelle Morris as part of an £11m programme to make life easier for pupils with special needs. Ministers hope the money will provide improvements such as special toilets for disabled pupils, ramps, handrails and lifts as well as special equipment.
Teeside Evening Gazette, April 10, 1998.

In a letter to the Editor, Helen Jeremiah points out the contradiction between the Disability Discrimination Act and education legislation. She says disabled pupils face being turned away from their local schools because of access problems. However, once they grow up they will have the right to be accommodated where their jobs are based. She wants the DDA to be extended, even if only in spirit, in such cases and adds: ‘Education should not be based on the segregation of disabled and non-disabled, it should provide the foundation upon which we learn to appreciate and value each other as individuals, not to fear or ridicule those who are different’.
South Wales Evening Post (Swansea), April 24, 1998.

A family of six are moving 150 miles to start a new life so that their disabled daughter can attend the same school as her brother and sisters. Katie Clarke, her husband Andy and their four young children are leaving their Northumberland village home to move to West Yorkshire after finally admitting defeat in their two-year campaign to get six-year-old Nadia into an ordinary school in the North East. In September the children will all become pupils at Saville Park Primary School in Halifax, where non-disabled youngsters are taught alongside deaf children. Last night Mrs Clarke said the family were leaving with sadness that the education system forced families with disabled children into such drastic action.
Newcastle upon Tyne Journal, April 25, 1998.