County Durham and Darlington schools are set to receive a £350,000 Government windfall to improve facilities for disabled pupils. The Schools Access Initiative application for 2000-01 will be used to provide such things as ramps and braille equipment for blind children in mainstream schools. Darlington will received £70,000, while Durham has been allocated £280,000. The Government has pledged £100m to the initiative over the next three years, and this year is releasing £30m to 1,900 schools throughout England to provide better access for disabled children.
Darlington and Stockton Times (Durham), June 2, 2000.

A major reorganisation of special schools in Warwickshire has been dealt a blow after the Government rejected the scheme. The proposals, estimated to cost up to £6 million, had been drawn up to meet the changing needs of pupils with learning difficulties in the county. The proposals had included closing Leyland and Griff special schools, which serve Nuneaton and Bedworth, and opening a new purpose-built unit in Nuneaton. Round Oak and Ridgeway special schools, which serve the central area of the county, would also have been amalgamated into a new unit in Warwick. Both units would have offer a range of education services for youngsters with moderate to severe learning difficulties. Warwickshire assistant county education officer, Mark Gore said: ‘The first thing we have got to find out is why the Secretary of State rejected the scheme. We are urgently seeking a meeting with DfEE officials.’ Mr Gore said special school numbers were falling as more parents of children with difficulties sought to have them included in mainstream.
Birmingham Post, June 6, 2000.

Consultation has officially started on radical plans to close seven schools and redevelop sixth forms, special needs education and early years provision in Greenwich, London. The controversial plan has already sparked a massive campaign against the closures but education chiefs insist they are essential to raise standards. Seven schools – Briset Road and Ruxley Manor primaries, Eaglesfield secondary, Maze Hill, Nine Acres, Churchfield and Brantridge special schools – are due for the axe.
New Shopper, Greenwich and Charlton, June 7, 2000.

Parents and carers of Kent children are being asked their views about a project to improve services for pupils with special or additional educational needs. They are being sent a newsletter from the County Council explaining how it is changing the way special or additional needs are being met in both special and mainstream schools, through a project called All Together Better. Kent County Council say that by working together and pooling resources schools will be able to draw on additional funding released by restructuring and cutting bureaucracy. This will enable it to extend parental choice and raise standards.
Kentish Gazette (Whitstable), June 8, 2000.

Demands for Richmond Council to rethink proposals to close Oldfield House School for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties remain unanswered. After a stormy meeting of the Community Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Forum, Coun. Brian Miller, who is chair of the county’s education committee, said the decision on any future consultation would rest with the full Council. The Council’s proposals included: establishing two nurture groups to help younger children; setting up a bridging unit where pupils would receive short-term help while remaining on the register of a mainstream school; setting up a unit catering for the needs of pupils who have severe difficulties.
Richmond Comet, June 9, 2000.

Educational experts estimate that around £500,000 needs to be spent on special needs in Hounslow over the next three years if more children are to be integrated into mainstream education. Councillors have agreed to back the development of a three-year action plan to open up mainstream education for those parents who want it for their children. The move is in line with Government policy and requirements laid down by the proposed new Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights in Education Bill. Coun. Jagdish Sharma, for the Council’s Executive, said: ‘This new inclusive approach aims to ensure that children with special needs are not discriminated against. It will also ensure that parental choice is respected by eventually ensuring there is adequate provision in mainstream. schools.’
Hounslow Chronicle, June 15, 2000.

A distraught Rotherham mother has urged education chiefs to change their minds about sending her daughter to a school for severely handicapped pupils. Michaela Stosik, aged 11, who has Downs Syndrome, has been a pupil at mainstream Ashwood Primary for eight years and according to her Mum has come on in ‘leaps and bounds’. But now education officials say from September Michaela must attend Hill Top Special School at Maltby. A Council spokesman said: ‘Michaela’s case went before a special needs panel and it was decided she would benefit from going to Hill Top. Her Mum has now been told that if she is unhappy she has the right to appeal.’
Rotherham Star, June 23, 2000.

Trendy teaching methods may be behind an explosion in the number of pupils classed as having ‘special needs’, it was claimed yesterday. An education expert said that most could simply be victims of a progressive system which had left them unable to read and write. Almost 20 per cent. of children are now classed as having special needs, a huge rise over the past 30 years. But few of them have serious physical or mental disabilities, according to Dr John Marks, director of the Education Research Trust and a former adviser to Tory Governments. The proportion of pupils with serious mental or physical disabilities rose from 0.8 per cent. to 1.6 per cent. in primary and from 1 per cent. to 2.5 in secondaries between 1991 and 1999. The numbers defined as having learning difficulties have increased from 11.6 per cent. to 19.2 per cent. in primary schools and from 9.6 per cent. to 16.5 per cent. in senior schools between 1995 and 1999. He called for more of the pupils to be taught in special schools saying attempts to include them in normal classes had led disruption and inefficiency.
Daily Mail, June 26, 2000.

The Government was this week condemned for dropping plans for a Bill that would bolster the rights of special needs and disabled pupils. Education Secretary, David Blunkett, said more consultation was needed on the proposed bill which would extend disability rights laws to cover schools and colleges and update special needs laws. The Bill had been scheduled to pass through Parliament by the end of this session in the Autumn. But Mr Blunkett said the Government remained committed to the Bill and would publish a consultation draft by the Autumn.
Times Educational Supplement, June 30, 2000.