One small step for schoolgirl, Maddy Sibthorp, segregated because of learning difficulties, could lead the way for others with challenging educational needs. For as Maddy took up her place at Wilmslow High School this year she struck a blow for equality and triumphed over educational red tape. Now her Mum, Kate Sibthorp, has gone on the record to praise a shift in policy that has allowed her daughter to move into a mainstream school. For the past twelve years 14-year-old Maddy has been a pupil at Macclesfield’s Park Lane Special School. But this week she enjoyed her first week as a full-time pupil at Wilmslow High School thanks to provisions under the Disabilities Discrimination Act. Kate said: ‘It made me realise that people with learning disabilities have the same rights as everybody else to go to the same shops and the same schools — they have got a right to be part of society.’
Wilmslow Express, July 7, 2005

Fewer Notts youngsters with special needs have places at special schools than almost anywhere in the country. Research from the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) showed that the percentage of children being given a place at a Nottingham or Notts special school is lower than the national average. In 2004, only 0.45 per cent of children with special needs were given a place by Notts County Council and only 0.47 per cent by Nottingham City Council. Only Newham (0.6 per cent) and Rutland (0.23 per cent) had lower figures. The national average was 0.82 per cent — 101,612 pupils. Jeff Redshaw, whose grandson Anthony Ferguson goes to Nethergate Special School in Clifton, said: ‘I am not surprised. Special needs children get a raw deal. I know there are an awful lot of people desperate for a place at a special needs school.’
Nottingham Evening Post, July 11, 2005

Birmingham has come near the bottom of a hall of shame for failing to integrate youngsters with disabilities. The authority has been highlighted as having a high proportion of 0–19-year-olds that are ‘segregated’ by being taught in special schools or away from mainstream schools. In Birmingham, some 3,600 pupils are taught in special schools — 1.21 per cent of all 0-19-year-olds, compared to the national average of 0.82 per cent. Mark Vaughan, founder and co-director of the Centre For Studies on Inclusive Education which has published the list, said: ‘Birmingham is much greater than the national average. They need to focus more on developing inclusive policies.’
Birmingham Post, July 11, 2005

The integration of disabled pupils into mainstream schools is being undermined by a small band of politicians and parents, disability rights campaigners argued today. In a full page advert, the charity, Disability Equality in Education, said it was concerned that the recent debate on inclusion, prompted by comments from Baroness Warnock and the Conservative Party, was giving a ‘distorted view of inclusive education’. The advert, signed by education charities, teachers, parents and disabled people, said: ‘These campaigners are undermining the inclusion of disabled pupils in mainstream schools. They seem to have missed out on 25 years of global debate and development of effective practice that has put inclusion of disabled pupils on a human rights stage.’ It goes on: ‘Baroness Warnock is talking about the problems of poor integration. This is not inclusion which means changing the school so all children can flourish’.
Guardian Unlimited, July 14, 2005

It’s been a long goodbye for Sheffield’s East Hill Primary School. The special school for youngsters with a variety of learning difficulties was earmarked for closure in November 2002. But it was decided to phase the shutdown with younger pupils transferring to units in mainstream primaries and the older ones moving on when they were ready for secondary schooling. Since then the school has maintained high standards with staff putting some turbulent times behind them. The school finally closes today and the occasion was marked earlier this week with a gala day, complete with clowns, fire eaters, magicians and a bouncy castle. Headteacher, Tony Turner said some parents had doubts about pupils moving back to mainstream schools because of problems there in the first place. He added: ‘We explained we had specially chosen places for them in integrated units. These were all new places which had been tailormade. We were determined the places would be as good or better. Units now are very different to how they were five years ago.’
Star (Sheffield), July 21, 2005

A specialist school for youngsters who have been expelled from mainstream education has been placed under special measures by inspectors. Wansdyke School in Odd Down caters exclusively for children aged between nine and 16 who have been permanently excluded from schools across Bath and north east Somerset. In May, Government inspectors from Ofsted visited the school as part of routine check-ups, but they found the education being given to most of the 40 boys and one girl was ‘unsatisfactory’. Inspectors also felt that pupils’ bad behaviour meant legal requirements to ensure health and safety of all staff and pupils was not being met. The school’s management has been handed back to the education department of Bath and North East Somerset and the headteacher has resigned. The education authority has the power to close the school but has decided to keep it open and work to improve it.
Bath Times, July 21, 2005

A new resource unit has opened at Wells Hall Primary School, Great Cornard, which will benefit autistic children attending mainstream schools in the area. Building on the success of an innovative unit based at Beacon Hill Special School in Ipswich since 2002, the unit will provide outreach support for children aged from five to 16 diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. The new resource will offer a wide range of flexible packages, tailored to meet the needs of individual children and targeting important areas like social skills, communication and behaviour.
Suffolk Free Press, July 21, 2005

Children with severe learning difficulties are to be taught alongside mainstream city pupils in a new £8 million school. The ground-breaking scheme will see a new school built in Stechford Road, Hodge Hill on the site of Colebourne Primary. Beaufort Special School which looks after children with severe learning difficulties aged four to 11, will then relocate from Coleshill Road, Stechford. The proposal is expected to be approved by Birmingham City Council’s cabinet on Monday.
Birmingham Post, July 23, 2005

A new breed of special school must be created to house problem pupils from dysfunctional families, a teachers’ leader urged today. Children from the poorest backgrounds and those in care should be treated as having special needs, just as if they were physically disabled, said Professional Association of Teachers official Barry Matthews. He told the association’s annual conference. ‘We must invent a new kind of school that can cater not only for specific disabilities but for children with needs that arise from social disadvantage. Of particular concern are children in care, who often need an environment within which they can be known and supported by their teachers, so that relationships of trust may develop’. Education watchdog, Ofsted, warned last year that many schools had become dumping grounds for the worst-behaved children, which was putting huge strain on them. Many teachers in mainstream schools were not trained to cope with such children, and even headteachers who supported inclusion were growing fearful of its effect on their schools.
Standard Lite, July 28, 2005

Children with special needs are 24 times more likely to be segregated at school if they live in parts of the North East of England than they are in London’s East End. A new analysis of Government statistics from the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, CSIE, shows huge variations in levels of inclusion. The study points to the gulf between local authorities, questioning their commitment to inclusion and the ‘unacceptably wide degree of local variation’. Spokespersons from the most and least inclusive local authorities in the study both said their policies had been implemented after consultation with families.
Times Educational Supplement, July 29, 2005

Government figures show that the number of children with statements hit a five-year low in January. But there has been an increase in the number and proportion of children who have learning difficulties but no statement of special needs. Campaigners say many councils are unwilling to ‘statement’ pupils because of the legal entitlement and possible extra costs. Despite recent complaints about closures of special schools, there has been a slight increase in the proportion of children with statements attending them. A spokesman for the National Association of Special Educational Needs said the reduction in statements might be because of funding implications but it was also because schools were meeting needs in different ways without statements. She added: ‘I found it interesting that the number of children in special schools has not fallen. People talk about special schools closing and some are, but others must be developing’.
BBC News Online, July 29, 2005