Schools need to pay more than lip service to plans aimed at integrating special needs children into mainstream, an autistic group has claimed. Bromley council’s education committee recently adopted a policy for special needs education following a lengthy consultation process. Closer ties will be formed between mainstream and special needs units to enhance the education of children with learning and physical difficulties. Bromley Autistic Trust Director, Carol Pover, has welcomed the policy but says proof will be in the implementation. ‘Many schools will actually need to change their cultures and ensure the children are managed in an equal way with proper anti-bullying policies in place and training given to staff’.
Kentish Times (Bromley and Beckenham), October 5, 2001.

Education chiefs in Leeds have launched a video trumpeting the success of the city’s schools in helping children with special needs. The video, A Better World, is being given to schools across the city as a training resource for staff and as information for parents. The video focuses on the success of inclusive education for children with special needs — from language difficulties to learning and physical disabilities — at two schools, the Lovell Park Early Years Centre and Ralph Thoresby High School, Holt Park. Chris Edwards, chief executive of Education Leeds, said: ‘This video shows how successful Leeds schools are at promoting inclusive education which demonstrates the real benefits for all children, not just those with special needs.’
Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds, October 12, 2001.

Families of disabled children are living in poverty because childcare services are not geared to their requirements, according to a new report. Out of school care for the UK’s half a million disabled children is rarely appropriate or affordable, the study by the Daycare Trust and Contact A Family found. As a result, parents who face the higher costs of raising a disabled child are unable to work, study or train. The report, Ambitious For All, was launched at the annual social services conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Director of the Daycare Trust, Stephen Burke, said: ‘We must be ambitious for all children in the UK. Good quality childcare enables children to fulfil their potential and get a good start in life. It allows parents to work or study and increase family income.’
Wolverhampton Express and Star, October 18, 2001.

The Chairman of the National Society for Mentally Handicapped People in Residential Care, Richard S. Jackson, has criticised special school closures and called for genuine choice for parents. In a letter to the editor, he says although ministers have given assurances that parents will have a choice of special or mainstream schools, closures of special schools denies such choice. According to Mr. Jackson, the usual argument of ‘closures to improve services’ has already decimated the overall care service to people with a mental handicap and their families and left a crisis-led rather than a needs-led service.
Manchester Evening News, October 24, 2001.

A mother has won her legal battle to have her son sent to a special school because of fears that he would be targeted by playground bullies. Perth and Kinross Council’s decision to try to send Jamie MacPherson, 12, to an ordinary secondary school has been over-turned by a sheriff. The education authority has been ordered to pay the £10,000 per term cost of sending James to the New School, at Butterstone, Perthshire. Sheriff Michael Fletcher has ruled that the boy’s vulnerability means that he would struggle to cope with secondary school. He said the authority’s experts had been ‘over optimistic’ about the ability of Perth Grammar to deal with a pupil such as Jamie. ‘The medical evidence is against attending Perth Grammar School and my view is clearly that it would adversely affect his health to do so.’
Herald, Glasgow, October 26, 2001.

Pupils at a London primary school are letting their fingers do the talking in sign language classes. All 50 staff and more than 400 pupils at Morningside school in Hackney, east London, are learning the basics of British Sign Language, inspired by deaf teacher Lesley Reeves who joined the school in July. The move is part of the schools preparations to welcome deaf and hearing-impaired children into mainstream classes. Head teacher, Jean Milham said: ‘We hope to open to deaf children in April. We are going to start with children in the nursery and perhaps reception classes. We are all beginning to become deaf aware and we are all learning sign.’
Times Educational Supplement, October 26, 2001

Wilson Stuart School in Birmingham has a bank of information and resources for use with children with a wide range of disabilities which are made available to schools throughout the area. The availability of resources and information, together with specialist expertise, means that most questions from local schools with inclusion policies can be answered. Service co-ordinator, Barbara Hunter, and colleague, Nicky Muncey, are in daily contact with teachers seeking advice and are also involved in training. The team advises on the educational implications of disability, classroom support, mobility and equipment.
Times Educational Supplement, October 26, 2001.

Aspley Wood Special School in Nottingham and St Teresa’s School have formed a partnership for technology lessons. Groups of seven and eight-year-olds from St Teresa’s have been joining Year 3 pupils from Aspley Wood in lessons on structures, mechanisms and food technology. Technology provides good opportunities for sharing, communicating and collaborative working for pupils and staff. The pupils work in pairs and each partner or ‘buddy’ makes a distinctive contribution to the design.
Times Educational Supplement, October 26, 2001