Liam Thompson has missed almost a year of school after Liverpool education officials refused to give him a mainstream place. Liam, 8, has Down’s Syndrome but his mother Kathleen, says she would rather face prosecution than see him in a special school. Liam attended a primary school in Arnfield for three years before education officers decided he could not continue going there. He has been offered placed in two special schools but his mother insists they are not right for him. A council spokesman said: ‘We have a place for this child which a special educational needs tribunal instructed him to attend. The Council policy is to support inclusion but there are a small number of children for whom a mainstream education is not appropriate.’ Yesterday the Echo revealed that four special schools — Ashfield, Watergate, Meadowbank and Merseyview — face the axe by 2010 under proposals by education chiefs.
Liverpool Echo, June 1, 2004.

All too often inclusion can translate into prejudice and exclusion for schoolchildren with Down’s Syndrome, according to their parents. A survey of nearly 1,400 parents suggested that the government policy of inclusion in mainstream schools is failing. Parents say that teachers lack the skills and schools the resources to care for their children. They also accuse local education authorities of manipulating the statement of special educational needs process to save funds — forcing parents to tribunal. Increasingly though there is no alternative, with some LEAs citing inclusion policies as justification for closing special schools, the Down Syndrome Association says. See www.downs-syndrome.org.uk
The Times (Public Agenda), June 1, 2004.

The axe has effectively fallen on provision for children with moderate learning difficulties at Alderman Knight School. Gloucestershire County Council has just begun a second consultation period asking how the special school should be run in future. But when the letters from the council’s cabinet landed on campaigners’ doorstep they were shocked to discover only one option is being put forward. It only includes provision for children with severe learning difficulties, meaning those with less serious problems would have to go to mainstream. The council was expected to include a second option which would have involved co-operation between Alderman Knight and Tewkesbury School with some form of outreach support. The Alderman Knight Action Group wants the school to continue educating children with moderate learning difficulties and say they are prepared to fight the council all the way to the High Court.
Gloucestershire Echo, June 11, 2004.

The parents of a severely dyslexic boy from Farnham who appeared in court because of their son’s truancy have hit out flaws in the education system. The father and mother, who can not be named for legal reasons, claimed that there son only missed school because he was too stressed to attend because he was struggling with learning difficulties. They admitted charges at Alton Magistrates Court that the 15-year-old boy was not going to school and that they did not take reasonable steps to ensure his attendance. Hampshire Education Authority claimed that between December 2003 and March 2004 the boy missed 41 school days. But during the court case the boy’s mother told magistrates how the education system had failed her son. The magistrates decided neither a fine or imprisonment was appropriate and gave the parents an absolute discharge.
Fleet News (Newspaper), June 11, 2004.

Campaigners will today call for more children with muscle wasting conditions to be given the chance of going to mainstream school. The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign will launch guidelines in Leeds today designed to help mainstream schools cope with the needs of children with a range of neuromuscular conditions. The charity is worried that even those children who successfully begin mainstream education sometimes have to leave because the school can not cope with their changing needs. A Muscular Dystrophy Campaign family care officer in Leeds, Sue Manning, worked with a range of specialists and parents to draw up the guidelines. She said while there was a general move to give more children a mainstream education, there was still a patchy response between different schools and local education authorities.
Yorkshire Post (West/Leeds), June 18, 2004.

A multi-million pound education village based on the extended schools model is set to be the centrepiece of Darlington’s drive to integrate service provision, starting with the assimilation of disabled children within mainstream schooling. The village, which is due to open in September 2005 and teach 1,400 children aged three to 19, will include a primary school and a comprehensive school alongside the relocated Beaumont Hill Technology College, a school for children with special needs. Classrooms in both primary and secondary schools will be adapted so that Beaumont Hill children can, as far as possible, be accommodated within a mainstream environment. The special school will also have facilities for pupils for whom inclusion is not appropriate, those with emotional and behavioural difficulties or higher spectrum autism. Each of the three schools will have a home base but most of the facilities will be co-used by all pupils. Special attention will be paid to curriculum planning to ensure an inclusive approach and easier transition between the various key stages. Underlining its status as a futuristic template for service integration, the village will also have an early years centre providing wrap-around childcare, crèche facilities and opportunities for lifelong learning.
Nursery World, June 17, 2004.

A row has broken out over a shake-up of school transport for hundreds of special needs children. Pupils with additional and special needs across Gateshead will no longer automatically be provided with transport to school after the council announced a policy review. Parents and carers are now waiting for their individual cases to be reviewed to find out whether they will get help with transport. Maggie Atkinson, director of education at Gateshead Council, said the council currently provided support to 630 children and every child in the borough could apply for assistance.
Evening Chronicle (Newcastle/City), June 26, 2004.