Consultations about integrating pupils with special needs into mainstream schools throughout North Tyneside have been met with a huge response. Such has been the interest that North Tyneside Council has extended the deadline for responses to their proposals which in time could lead to the closure of special schools throughout the borough. The plan for inclusive education means the number of pupils with special education needs who attend special schools will drop if the council’s strategic plan comes into force.
Whitley Bay News Guardian, February 1, 2001.

A planned change to the way pupils with special educational needs are taught in Waltham Forest has caused an uproar. Parents with children in any of the borough’s six special schools fear their youngsters will suffer, whether they end up in mainstream schools or ‘all in’ special needs schools. Heads and governors in mainstream schools are concerned that they will not receive sufficient money and expertise to support pupils with substantial learning difficulties. The local education authority has made it clear that there will be change, whether people like it or not, in line with the Government’s plans for inclusive education.
Chingford Guardian, February 1, 2001.

The achievements of pupils at St Margarets of Troy Town Primary School in Rochester have been acclaimed in an Ofsted report. Inspectors were impressed to see that the standards of pupils had leaped from below average when they entered the school to well above average when they left. The report says: ‘This is a most effective school. Pupils achieve well. When they leave, their attainment is well above average when compared with schools that take in pupils of a similar background. This is because the senior management team leads very well and has high expectations of staff and pupils’. Children with special needs and those for whom English is a second language made good progress because of the strong support from learning support assistants and other specialist staff.
Kent Today, February 12, 2001.

Pupils at Westgate Primary School, Bury St. Edmunds, gave a concert of singing and signing to raise money for improvements in their Hearing Impaired Unit. The 60 members of the school sign language club performed songs, signing the words as they sang them. Headmaster Brian Cash said: ‘It went really well. The parents were thrilled and very impressed. The Hearing Impaired Unit opened in 1961 and caters for the needs of children in West Suffolk whose deafness prevents them attending their local schools. Children are taught both in the unit and in mainstream classes where they integrate with their peers. The number of children in the unit has recently doubled, and the school needs funds for computers and software which would enhance the pupils’ learning and address their special needs.
Bury Free Press, February 16, 2001.

Blackpool’s education chief has made a pledge to parents of special needs children that they will not be forced to have their youngsters educated in mainstream schools. Councillors will meet to vote on proposals to close one of the borough’s three special schools. The closure plans have sparked anger from parents who claim it would be a disaster if their children were placed in mainstream schools instead of specialist centres. But Coun. Eddie Collett, executive councillor for education at Blackpool Council, insisted that parents would still have a choice. He said: ‘If their child’s school closes it will be up to them whether they want to place their child in a mainstream school or one of the other two specialist schools. No-one is going to make children with special needs go to mainstream schools’.
Blackpool Gazette, February 21, 2001.

Concerned parents and governors have until mid-March to oppose Lewisham Council’s special education re-structuring proposals. The February 28 deadline of the consultation on the closure of Anerley School and the re-organisation of five other provisions for special needs pupils, has been extended to allow further discussion. The executive education sub-committee will make the final decision about the proposals which aim to get ‘best value’ out of the school system, on May 9. NUT spokesman, Martin Powell-Davies, said: ‘This report has been put together by the council without the involvement of parents, governors or schools. If changes are to be made these interest holders must be involved’. A spokesman for Lewisham Council said: ‘The Council is primarily concerned with the best arrangements for children but must, of course, involve parents in the consultation. We have to discuss the policy before we can explain it to parents and persuade them of the rationale’.
New Shopper Lewisham and Catford.

A network of area resource bases to teach children with special educational needs in Cornish secondary and primary schools has been endorsed in principal by county councillors. The eight area resource bases would cost £1.6 million to set up in primary and secondary schools willing and able to accommodate them. The money would come from the county council’s current special education budget. Some resource base pupils could be integrated into mainstream classes for the majority of their lessons, while others would remain full time in the bases. This is the latest stage of the controversial review into special educational needs in Cornwall, aimed at finding a fairer way to redistribute the county’s £27 million a year budget which is facing an overspend of £560,000.
West Briton (Truro) February 22, 2001.

Carl Portman has beaten the odds after switching to a pioneering comprehensive which has opened its doors to disabled pupils. Carl, 17, attended a boarding school for the blind and a state school where he didn’t shine and was even bullied. But at the age of 14 he switched schools and has made such progress — passing 10 GCSEs. He is now looking forward to going to university. The Government is now planning to open more mainstream comprehensives to disabled pupils so they can all reach their full potential. Carl says his life was transformed at Filsham Valley, a 950-pupil school in St. Leonard’s, East Sussex. He said: ‘It’s brilliant here. Everybody takes people for what they are, not because they are disabled’.
The Mirror, February 23, 2001.

Sheffield’s special schools still have a future, according to the city’s new president of the National Union of Teachers. Susan Devlin, who works at the Rowan Special School in Dore, teaches pupils with autism. The city’s special schools sector has been greatly scaled down over the last decade with education experts and MPs pressing for more of its pupils to be taught in mainstream schools. Union activists have often been critical of the policy, highlighting problems which can emerge when children with behaviour disorders are integrated into mainstream classes. Ms Devlin said special schools should not be treated as exclusive places that were unsuitable for education. ‘Our approach to inclusion should be based on the principle that pupils are educated in the right place, at the right time and with the right resources. This should not exclude special schools – in many cases special school provision will still be needed’.
Star (Sheffield), February 26, 2001.