Every school and nursery in Inverclyde will have to build disabled access for children with special needs, the Scottish Executive announced today. Education Minister, Cathy Jamieson, pledged an extra £8 million to support education authorities throughout Scotland in developing plans. She said: ‘We are committed to ensuring all children in Scotland can achieve their full potential. This investment will help schools and nurseries prepare for pupils with a range of disabilities’. The Minister said the Executive wanted schools and nurseries to take a long-term approach rather than simply adapting facilities whenever a disabled pupil starts to attend.
Greenock Telegraph, October 2, 2002.

An extra £8 million announced by the Scottish Executive to help make schools more accessible to disabled pupils will fall far short of the amount needed, according to local authorities. Estimates vary over how much will be needed to met the full requirements of new disability legislation which came into force last month. However, South Lanarkshire Council alone estimates it will need £27 million to make all its schools physically compliant with the new laws. One estimate from Glasgow City Council suggested it would cost more than £100 million to make all its schools fully compliant under the Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils’ Educational Records) Ac t 2002.
The Herald (Glasgow), October 3, 2002.

Record numbers of people with disabilities brought discrimination claims against a range of businesses and public services last year including restaurants, airlines and nightclubs, a watchdog organisation has found. A report published yesterday by the Disability Rights Commission warns that the findings reveal just a small proportion of the discrimination to be found across Britain. In the past 12 months the number of discrimination cases supported by the commission rose by more than 50 per cent. and many of the cases succeeded in court. In one case a man was refused entry to a nightclub because of facial disfigurement and in another a pupil was banned from a school trip because of his diabetes.
The Independent, October 4, 2002.

The parents of an autistic Sheffield boy are taking legal action after being told to keep him at home while education chiefs investigate claims he suffered bruising at school. Amanda and Mark McGovern claim their seven-year-old son, Lee, is being denied an education – through no fault of his own. Lee’s parents demanded an inquiry into out how he suffered the bruising and why they were not told about it. Now they have been ordered to keep their son away from Mossbrook School, Norton, while their allegation is investigated because his presence may ‘threaten the integrity’ of the investigation.
Sheffield Weekly Gazette, October 10, 2002.

The father of an autistic boy is being prosecuted after keeping the teenager out of school. Bob Baker and his wife Dorothy removed 16-year-old Nicky from Bradfields School, Chatham, Medway, in July last year because they say they were concerned about his progress and his safety. Mr Baker, who works as a lecturer at the Horsted campus of Mid-Kent College, was sent a letter from headteacher, Peter Harris, asking him not to go to the school. Mrs Baker used to be a governor there but felt she had to stand down. Mr. Baker has now received a summons to appear before Medway Magistrates on October 17. A spokesman for Medway Council said Nicky was still registered at Bradfields because there had been no formal request to remove him. Mr And Mrs Baker had been given every opportunity to resolve the issues surrounding Nicky’s education.
Medway Today, October 9. 2002.
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The National Autistic Society says one in five autistic children is excluded from school, 20 times the national average. However schools will have to think twice about excluding a child with recognised autism now that the Special Needs and Disability Discrimination Act is in force. The Society says schools will also need to ask whether a child’s disruptive behaviour is being caused by an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Schools can argue that behaviour related to a medical condition can not be tolerated because of its disruptive effect on other children, but they will have to prove that they have exhausted all possible methods of supporting a child, such as providing one-to-one support.
Daily Telegraph, October 12, 2002.

More Rotherham children with severe learning needs are to be given the chance to be educated in mainstream schools over the next couple of years. Council cabinet members have agreed with the findings of a working party set up specifically to look at the educational provision for those with severe learning difficulties. As a result of an extensive review by the working party, Rotherham Borough Council is aiming to educate an increasing number of children in mainstream setting whenever possible, while altering the current remit and role of the Hilltop and Kelford special schools.
Dearne Valley Weekender, October 25, 2002.

Doing nothing is not an option for the future of special needs schools in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury. Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet was told that Alderman Knight in Tewkesbury and Cheltenham’s Belmont and Bettridge schools and the Battledown Children’s Centre cannot stay as they are. Coun. Charmain Sheppard, the cabinet member for education, said ‘no change’ could not be justified as it went against Council policy. ‘Officers, teachers, governors and the schools recognize that the current pattern of provision is not meeting the needs of children’ she said.
Gloucestershire Echo, October 23, 2002.

An exhibition of photographs of refugees and asylum seekers is to be held in Canterbury in November. Journeys and Dreams, by top photographer Carlos Reyes-Manzo, is at The Old Sessions House at Canterbury Christ Church University College from November 11 -17. The show is in support of Inclusion Week, part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education. Organised by Professor Tony Booth, of the Centre for Educational Research at University College, there will also be lunch-time and evening receptions on November 12, at which Carlos Reyes-Manzo will talk on his photographs and an Oxfam representative will talk on the global perspective on teacher education.
Kentish Gazette, October 31, 2002.