Teaching unions have been condemned by the Government’s disability rights watchdog for staging a ‘discriminatory’ campaign to keep pupils with special educational needs out of mainstream schools. The Disability Rights Commission reacted to a press release issued by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) stating that the ‘policy of inclusion of all pupils into mainstream schools, particularly those with emotional and behaviour difficulties, is proving to be a disaster for both these pupils and their teachers’. The remark was made after official figures showed expulsion figures have risen 4 per cent and that special needs children were four times more likely to be permanently excluded from school. The criticism has led to a heated correspondence between the DRC and the unions: the DRC sees the union’s lukewarm and heavily conditional support for inclusion as discriminatory, while teachers blame the blanket view of inclusion as well as poor funding and support for the rise in exclusion figures.
Disability Times, September 1, 2003.

A teenager who was rejected by his chosen college because of his wheelchair, started his first term on Monday after a landmark court judgment. An injunction used to force St Dominic’s Sixth Form college, Harrow, London, to accept 17-year-old Anthony Ford-Shubrook was the first issued under new disability legislation which gives disabled students equal rights in choosing where they study. After initially being welcoming, the school said that the chair-climbing wheelchair Anthony was proposing to use was a safety hazard and he could not be admitted to the college after all. ‘The Disability Rights Commission helped us to go for an injunction, because if we had waited for it to get to court Anthony’s education would have been severely affected,’ said Anthony’s mother, Cath Ford. Anthony and his parents are now awaiting a full court hearing in October. Anthony said: ‘The teachers have been really nice and friendly and I am enjoying it so far, especially geography.’
Harrow Observer, September 4, 2003.

The mother of a seven-year-old autistic boy has slammed Harrow Council education chiefs after her son was denied a place at a special school in neighbouring Hillingdon. Caroline Greavy believes that Hillingdon Manor School for autistic children gives the best opportunities for her son’s special needs. However, Harrow Council believes his needs can be met in a local special school. Mrs Greavy has kept seven-year-old Joseph at home for 18 months rather than return him to mainstream where she says he received only two hours support from a learning support assistant and was unhappy.
Harrow Leader, September 4, 2003.

Sign language tutor Rowan Butler has used her teaching to build up her confidence and self-esteem to such a degree that she has been nominated for a national teaching award. Based at North Warwickshire and Hinkley College in Nuneaton, 34-year-old Rowan, who has been deaf since birth, has been recognised for her talent in teaching British Sign Language by making the shortlist for the West Midlands NIACE (National Institute for Adults Continuing Education) ‘Adult Teacher of the Year Award’. Rowan has been teaching at the college for more than four years, teaching British Sign Language (BSL) in the evenings alongside her main job working with deaf children in mainstream schools, developing their signing skills.
Nuneaton Evening Telegraph, September 11, 2003.

An autistic six-year-old has missed the start of the new school year after he was suspended because teachers could not cope with his behaviour. Michael Wloch, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was suspended from St Stephen’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Skipton and later withdrawn by his parents. They blame the school for failing to ‘statement’ Michael who suffers from behavioural problems so that he could get one-to-one teaching.
Craven Herald and Pioneer, September 12, 2003.

At Birley Spa Primary School in Sheffield a strategy of total inclusion has led to dramatic whole school improvement in SATs results. The head teacher believes that no child whatever their problems should be excluded from the school — and that includes children with extremely challenging behaviour. Taking in very disturbed and disadvantaged children has acted like a lever to introduce more innovative teaching. Birley Spa is part of a consortium of schools — the Birley Inclusion Group — which includes a nursery, four primaries and a secondary. According to the head: ‘Children move between special needs and mainstream provision, as their needs determine. There is no way we could cope with some of the children without the support of special schools and specialist services’.
Managing Schools Today, September 13, 2003.

A schoolgirl who cannot speak has won an award for being one of the best achievers in Islington, London. Seven-year-old Helen Wood is autistic and can only say the word ‘no; yet manages to have normal conversations with friends and families thanks to a special typewriter. Helen, a keen poet, was recognised by CEA@-Islington, the firm which runs the borough’s schools for ‘outstanding success in the face of adversity’.
Camden Chronicle, September 18, 2003.

Baroness Warnock has called for a new public inquiry and complete reform of the way schools provide for special educational needs. Baroness Warncock, whose investigating committee set the pattern of today’s provision 25 years ago, identifies the biggest fault in the system as statementing — a procedure her committee invented to protect and stabilise the education of severely disabled children. However, she says, that in practice ‘it has been disastrous. It is the major greatest obstacle to good provision. There are far more children statemented than we ever envisaged. It has ceased to be about what the child needs, and has just become a battle for resources’. As well as getting rid of statementing, Baroness Warnock suggests a number of other developments as part of a ‘totally reformed system’ that serves everybody. These include a halt to inclusion, a system of small schools, an exam system that takes account of different needs, and nursery education which gives children a chance to catch up in vocabulary and language. She says a much broader perspective on responding to special needs, both social and educational, is required.
Times Educational Supplement, September 19, 2003.

Chris Darlington, the new president of Nasen, in an article for the Times Educational Supplement, says Nasen has produced a policy which recognises that inclusion is not a simple concept restricted to issues of placement. Its definition has to encompass broad notions of educational access and the importance of catering for diverse needs. Key principles are valuing diversity, entitlement, dignity, individual needs, planning, collective responsibility, professional development and equal opportunities.
Times Educational Supplement, September 19, 2003.

A thousand people have signed a petition demanding that a threatened special school stay open. And their MP says he will be appealing to Government ministers. Friends of Wedgewood School and Community Nursery in Holme Wood, Bradford, issued the ‘hands off’ warning to education chiefs as the ten week consultation period came to an end. Bradford Council and its private partner, Education Bradford, want to close ten special schools, including Wedgewood, and replace them with six new purpose-built ones in 2006. Bradford South MP, Gerry Sutcliffe, said he did not object to the principle of replacing the schools — some of which are in decrepit buildings — with new ones co-located with mainstream schools to ease integration. But he said the details of the plans had not been properly worked through. Families were still not sure of the time-scale and where the funding was coming from.
Telegraph and Argus (Bradford), September 26, 2003.