The head teacher and a governor of a leading city special school have joined forces with a local MP to question Government plans for special educational needs inclusion in mainstream schools. A report by Ofsted earlier this year said the Staffordshire local education authority (LEA) had not made suitable provision for the inclusion of special needs (SEN) pupils. The LEA’s vision outlined in the report, stated: ‘Staffordshire will be an inclusive learning county, a community where we seek to remove barriers, provide opportunities and ensure an inclusive education is provided for all individuals and groups’. The LEA is currently spending £3.7 million on adapting 20 ‘pathway’ high schools to be physically more accessible, with work at an undisclosed cost to take place over the next few years at 56 ‘feeder’ primary schools. However, as yet, mainstream schools identified for change in the Litchfield area have not heard from the LEA about when changes will be taking place.
Lichfield Mercury, December 5, 2002.

A Perth councilor has praised the authority’s work on improving education for disabled pupils. Margo Lennie, convener of the education and children’s services committee, was speaking at the meeting of the strategic and policy resources committee. In March the Scottish Parliament passed legislation requiring local authorities to take the necessary steps to improve access to education for pupils with disabilities. The aim was to enable them to enjoy equal opportunities in education and ensure they were not unfairly discriminated against. The education and children’s services committee established a working party to examine a wide range of solutions. Coun. Lennie said: ‘I applaud the hard work being done to develop the Council’s policy of inclusion in education for children with disabilities. I have seen how children have benefited from being educated with their peers. The Council now has to look further at the measures needed and their financial implications so that we can fully meet the needs of children with disabilities within mainstream education.’
Perthshire Advertiser, December 10, 2002.

Many young disabled people still struggle to get the same opportunities as non-disabled youngsters in our education system. That is according to a new Disability Rights Commission (DRC) survey of 16-24-year-olds, which shows many were discouraged from taking GCSEs and from going into further or higher education. Some complained of missing out on school trips or activities because of their disability. And others complained of bullying because of their disability, including by teachers. The survey, part of the DRC’s Educating for Equality Campaign, found that:
* One quarter of disabled children claimed they were discriminated against at school.
* One fifth said they had been discouraged from taking GCSEs.
* 34% felt they did not get the help or support they needed from teachers and staff.
* 38% said they had been bullied, with one in 20 saying they’d been bullied by teachers.
* 41% said they felt isolated or left out at school.
* 49% said they missed out on games or PE. Of these, nearly half said the school could have made better adjustments to cater for their disability’.
Citizen (Gloucester). December 9, 2002.

Children with learning difficulties placed in mainstream schools are threatening to take their lives rather than go through the gates in the morning, say parents. Others lock themselves in their bedrooms or are running away to avoid the hurly burly of comprehensive schools. In a devastating attack on the way the Government’s inclusion policy is being implemented, parents say their children deserve extra opportunities, not equal opportunities. Today they are launching a new organisation to co-ordinate the myriad of campaigns countrywide against the closure of special schools by local authorities, which say they are carrying out the Government’s wishes. The Special School Protection League has been formed by Graham Barton, whose 16-year-old daughter has just left a special school in Stroud, Glos, which closed at the end of the year. He said: ‘A huge wealth of expertise in the schools is being thrown on the scrapheap and parents won’t have any choice over how their children are educated because the special school option will remain only for the most severe cases.’
Daily Telegraph, December 12, 2002.

Pupils across the area have been celebrating their results in the new Government figures. The children at New Scotland Hill Primary School in Little Sandhurst excelled with every pupil reaching the required standard in English and science and 95% in maths. Headteacher, Linda Northover, said: ‘We’ve got some very good teachers who work hard with all staff to get every single pupil motivated. And we don’t just concentrate solely on the curriculum. We encourage them to enjoy learning, to strive forward and not to be afraid to make mistakes. This shows them they can attempt things they may not have thought of rather than playing safe, and that’s why I think we do so well’. One in four of the youngsters who sat tests at the Grampian Road School are classed as special needs.
Bracknell News, December 12, 2002.

A headteachers’ leader is demanding a detailed investigation into the admissions procedure for special schools in Oxfordshire. Cynthia Bartlett, chair of Oxfordshire Secondary Schools Head Teachers Association, spoke out after parents and governors claimed county education officers were ‘blocking’ places for pupils at special schools. The claim came at Tuesday’s county council executive board where councilors agreed to consult on the possibility of closing Iffley Mead School in Oxford and Woodeaton Manor School where pupils have moderate learning difficulties. They also agreed to set up an independent panel to examine the admissions procedure which will present its findings in March. This week in Stroud, Gloucestershire, the Special School Protection League was formed to co-ordinate a large number of campaigns countrywide against the closure of special schools by local authorities. At Tuesday’s meeting in Oxford, Mrs. Bartlett urged county councilors not to switch £228,000 of funding away from the two schools to mainstream schools by cutting the number of places for special needs pupils and they agreed not to do so.
Oxford Times, December 13, 2002.

Teacher union leaders are urging the Government to issue fresh guidance to education authorities over the proposed closure of about 100 special schools. They support parents who have launched a national campaign to keep the schools as an option for children who can not cope In the mainstream. ‘We are adamantly against the closure of schools which have the expertise, skill and facilities to give a high level of support to some of our most vulnerable pupils’, said Mike Brooks, former president of the National Association of Head Teachers. Parents of pupils with learning difficulties are campaigning all over the country to save schools under threat because of the Government-led policy of inclusion for all but those with the most serious disabilities. The Department for Education has said it wants special schools to be retained to provide parental choice and as centres of excellence which can support teachers and pupils in other local schools. But Gloucestershire County Council has proposed the closure of six special schools saying it needs to use the money to support children with emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties who will be moved into mainstream primaries and comprehensives.
Daily Telegraph, December 14, 2002.

Almost 80 years ago a group of Portsmouth’s most influential men sat around a table and drew up plans for a special needs school. The deeds or Futcher School in Drayton stated that the site must be used to provide free education to children with physical disabilities. But now that the special school could be forced to close its doors, parents have called for the original documents to be honoured in an eleventh-hour attempt to save the school from the axe. The site in Drayton Lane was originally the home of Portsmouth banker, Thomas Futcher, who gave the land to a group of friends. They formed an ad hoc committee and handed the land to the local education authority. The deeds state that if it ceases to be a special needs school, ownership of the land has to be handed back to the committee. But with the committee all believed to be dead, the Charity Commission would step in to decide on ownership of the land if the school was to close its doors to pupils.
The News (Portsmouth), December 18, 2002.

A truancy crackdown in Brentwood has revealed the majority of children bunking off lessons are primary school pupils out with their parents. Around 50 young people were stopped by police and education welfare officers in a sweep on Brentwood town centre, Shenfield, Ingatestone, Pilgrims Hatch and Warley. When asked why they were not in school, the list of excuses included visiting grandparents and helping with Christmas shopping. Some parents claimed their children were too ill to attend classes and others refused to give any explanation. Last week Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, announced plans to give head teachers the power to impose on-the-spot fines on parents whose children are persistently absent from school.
Brentwood Gazette and Mid Essex Recorder, December 19, 2002.