Braithwaite Special School, Bradford, is likely to move to the grounds of Bronte Middle School in 2001. After consultations of parents, schools, governors, trade unions and MPs, the majority voted in favour of the move to retain provision for two to nineteen-year-olds. The school will accommodate 85 pupils with moderate learning difficulties on Bronte’s ground floor. Special provision for pupils with autism is planned. But concerns were expressed about plans to site a pupil referral unit on the same campus.
Bradford Telegraph and Argus, January 10, 2000.

A woman who helped many children with special needs stay in mainstream schools has retired after 27 years. Elizabeth Barrett helped set up the learning support service in Buckinghamshire when she joined the council in 1964. Senior support worker, Guillaume Scourfield paid tribute to his colleague’s tireless determination: ‘There are a lot of children, now grown up, who owe Elizabeth a debt of gratitude. She has travelled tens of thousands of miles across this county as a support teacher and she has helped bring a lot of much needed equipment into schools,’ he said.
Bucks Herald, January 12, 2000.

Education Secretary, David Blunkett, promised a reinforced commitment to children with special needs on a visit to Dr John Worrall School in Atterclife. New legislation is planned later this year, he confirmed, which will compel authorities to provide greater support and give clearer and more effective rights to parents. Mr Blunkett said that while there was a move to include more children in mainstream, there would always be a need for schools like John Worrall. The school caters for children with serious emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Doncaster Star, January 13, 2000.

A brother and sister have won a legal battle against their mother, who sent them to a school for children with severe disabilities, because she is convinced, against medical advice, that they are autistic. Three appeal court judges have now backed a ruling by a sheriff that the mother, who was said to be conducting a ‘crusade’, is seriously impairing the children’s development. The sheriff decided that the 14-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl can cope ‘quite easily’ with normal school. Both children have been in foster care since May 1997, and the case will how go back to a children’s hearing to decide what should happen next. The case at the Court of Session was brought in the children’s name and the court was told that there was no suggestion that they were in any way unable to understand the issues involved.
The Herald (Glasgow), January 14, 2000.

A Great Barr school has been praised by government inspectors for its commitment to integrating physically disabled students. Of the 432 pupils at Great Barr Primary, Aldridge Road, 26 are disabled. The praise comes as part of the recent Ofsted report. The report said: ‘The integration of physically disabled pupils is very effective and is of great benefit to all in the school community. They receive very good support and make good progress.’
Great Barr and Erdington Chronicle, January 14, 2000.

A deaf boy’s 190 fellow pupils have learnt to communicate in sign language so that he can stay at his primary school. Josh Bryant, 7, who is profoundly deaf, faced having to leave Clinton Park school in the Lincolnshire village of Tattershall to go to a special school. But lessons in signing were set up after several pupils expressed a willingness to learn so they could communicte with Josh who is in Year Two. Maria Harrison, a sign language teacher, said that a school choir whose members sign as they sing had been set up and Josh’s teachers and parent helpers were being taught to sign. She said: ‘We never dreamt we would get such a good response from other youngsters. It shows that deafness need not be so much a disability and at the same time the young ones are getting awareness of disability issues at a young age.’
The Times, January 19, 2000.

An Ofsted inspection has found that the costs of provision for pupils with special educational needs in Greenwich, London, are high and still rising with more than half the children with statements remaining in special schools. Money spent on non-mainstream support is said to be too high with a quarter of the SEN budget going on the pupil referral unit, behaviour support and fees for independent special schools. Meanwhile money spent on educational psychology and specialist SEN support services for pupils in the mainstream remains low. The report recommends an ‘urgent programme of action’ on implementing the authority’s inclusion policy; prompt completion of statements; reviewing the criteria to reduce the proportion of children with statements of SEN and switching resources to support SEN children in the mainstream, particularly those with behavioural needs.
Greenwich Mercury, January 19, 2000.

Disabled children in Scarborough are to benefit from new government legislation to give them rights in the classroom. Schools minister Jacqui Smith has relaunched the Special Educational Consortium which brings together a wide range of groups, including parents and teachers, who are involved with the welfare of children with special needs. She revealed plans to introduce a Disability in Education Bill which gives disabled pupils new rights to ensure they are treated fairly, ensures schools and local authorities improve access for disabled pupils and make reasonable adjustments to policies.
Scarborough Evening News, January 24, 2000.

 

Other news:

Mainstream developments

Mainstream schools were asked to adopt a new approach to inclusion which concentrated on identifying barriers to learning in schools rather than ‘special needs’ or deficits in children.
The ‘Index for Inclusion’ published by the Centre For Studies on Inclusive Education in March was sent to all 26,000 English primary and secondary schools. According to the publication, which guides schools through a process of inclusive development, the language of ‘special needs education’ is a potential barrier to inclusive practice. The Index blames the label for focusing on students’ problems and deflecting attention from barriers to learning and participation within the school system. It challenges schools to examine their own part in excluding children from education.
There was also a warning that while classroom assistants working alongside teachers were a welcome development for inclusion, worrying trends which could lead to further segregation were emerging. This happened when assistants were inappropriately attached to individual children rather than providing extra support to classes as a whole. Concerns were also expressed that introducing classroom assistants to replace lost support teacher posts would not provide the same quality of education.

A report to mark the start of Autism Week in May found that children with autism and Asperger syndrome were 20 times more likely to be excluded from school than their peers. The report found that teachers across the UK send home autistic children of all abilities because they lack the necessary expertise, time and specialist support.

Research from Portsmouth University due to be published in Autumn was said to show that teenagers with Down’s Syndrome progressed much better in mainstream secondary schools than in special schools. According to lead researcher, Professor Sue Buckley, ‘We show that there has been almost no progress in special schools since the 1980s. We can not see any reason for any child being there.’

Legislative moves

The introduction into Parliament of the Special Educational Needs and Disability in Education Bill was a major event in 2000. The Bill sought to extend anti-discrimination legislation to cover education and make it illegal not to take reasonable steps to accommodate disabled students. The setting up of the Disability Rights Commission was also an important development. Bert Massie, 51, formerly director of the Royal Society for Disability and Rehabilitation, became the Commission’s first chair.

A record £254,362 compensation for stress was awarded to a teacher who was forced to cope single-handedly with 11 special needs and disturbed children in a mainstream class. The teacher warned that there were thousands of other teachers ‘just as needy’ struggling to integrate special needs and disturbed children without the necessary resources.

In December, teenager Kimbeley Jhally, who has learning difficulties, was elected to the UK Youth Parliament. Kimbeley, who represents the Canterbury and Swale area, had already spoken in the House of Commons. Her manifesto tackled such hard hitting issues as drug and alcohol abuse and stamping out pollution. She said:’I have trouble with reading and writing but I am determined never to let that stop me doing things’.

Family struggles

Cases continued of disabled children being sent to special schools against the wishes of their families and there were also complaints of children being forced to attend mainstream schools.
In Kent a five-year-old autistic boy had to be educated at home while education officials tried to resolve difficulties over his request for a mainstream school. Single mother Karen Hart withdrew her daughter from mainstream school complaining she could not cope, even though Oxfordshire education chiefs said they had done everything possible to cater for her special needs. In Lambeth a mother complained that the Council’s special needs reorganisation had led to her son having to change schools twice in two years causing unreasonable strain. In Pinner, London, a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome was permanently excluded from school because of ‘unpredictable and aggressive behaviour’. According to his mother the school could not provide enough support for her son and he ‘wasn’t given a chance’. Zahrah Manuel, of West Hampstead, London, eventually won her long struggle for a mainstream secondary placement following a hearing in the High Court. Her mother said:’I just wanted her to have an ordinary good life and not be isolated or over protected.’

A brother and sister won a legal battle against their mother who sent them to a school for severely disabled children because she was convinced, against medical advice, that they were autistic. Three Scottish appeal court judge backed a ruling by a sheriff that the mother was seriously impairing her children’s development. He found that the 14-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl could cope with ordinary school.