The mother of four-year-old Kirstie Elliott is due to appear before the Special Educational Needs Tribunal to argue why her daughter, who has a chromosome disorder, should attend her local mainstream school. Hampshire County Council say that Kirstie’s needs will be best be met in in a special school for children with severe learning difficulties.
The News, Portsmouth, January 4, 1996.
Two friends of one of the deaf pupils attending Marden High School, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, could soon become the youngest students in Britain to get a sign language qualification. Hayley Lafferty and Kate Bucas, both 13, are taking an evening class with the Council for Advancement of Communication with Deaf People.
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle, January 19, 1996.
Zelda McCollum refutes claims that she is engaging in a game of ‘political football’ over the education of her daughter Chloe, who has Down’s Syndrome. Mrs. McCollum wants her daughter to attend a mainstream school rather than the special school named by Lewisham Council. She says Lewisham is resisting change and failing to offer choice to parents of disabled children. ‘We don’t want to play political football, but instead put forward arguments which will hopefully lead to greater understanding about disability rights, more parental choice, a more inclusive education system and a school for Chloe.’
The Big Issue, January 22, 1996.
Organisations of disabled people back Newcastle’s plans to include more disabled children in mainstream schools but warn that it must be full integration. Mary Kelly, senior advice and information officer for Disability North, says: ‘It’s no good putting children into mainstream schools if they end up in units which are just as segregated as if they were in another school.’
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle, January 22, 1996.
Mainstream schools in Newcastle are to get 1 million pounds extra to spend on children with special educational needs including cash for 19 special units. The special schools to close under the plan for re-organising special education in the city are Brunswick Beech, Westlands, Walkerdene or Parkway, and Jesmond Dean House. Job losses are certain.
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle, January 23, 1996.
The deputy head of All Saints School in Appley Bridge, Val Millers, says six-year-old twins, David and Gillian Prescott are doing well at the mainstream primary and ‘take part in all aspects of school life’. Mrs. Miller and her husband Brian are due to run in the Boston Marathon in America to raise funds for the twins’ trust fund.
Wigan Evening Post, January 26, 1996.
Charitable trusts and companies have stepped into save a school integration project which was running into financial difficulties. Fiveways School at Yeovil offers specialist education to children with severe learning difficulties, aged between 2 and 16 plus. A spokesman for one of the trusts supporting the project said that trustees had personal experience of the problems encountered by disabled children being isolated from the educational mainstream.
Western Gazette (Yeovil and District) January 25, 1996.
The chair of Newcastle City Council’s Education Committee, Darren Murphy, confirms that the council’s plans for re-organising special education means that six, rather than ten, special schools will operate in future. He says there will still be a ‘significant number of special school places for children with more severe difficulties who need this setting’.
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle, January 29, 1996.
