Mark Rogers, head of SEN, Educational and Cultural Services in Tameside, has denied a newspaper report that the Council has decided to shut Hawthorns and Samuel Laycock special schools and place pupils in mainstream classes. In a letter to the Tameside Reporter he says that the Council wants to see special and mainstream schools coming together, providing opportunities for children with special needs to mix and learn with their mainstream peers. It plans to invest significant amounts of money in improving education for children with moderate learning difficulties.
Tameside Reporter, April 3, 2003.

Many of the pupils at Barnet’s largest special school could miss out on vital one-to-one and small group tuition because of funding cuts. Headteacher Lynda Walker has warned parents of declining standards at Oak Lodge School in Heath View, East Finchley, London, where she anticipates an £80,000 financial deficit. She said the school was unable to budget for adequate supply cover for staff shortages. Groups might have to be amalgamated and ‘childminded rather than educated’.
Hendon and Finchley Times, April 3, 2003.

The only specialist school on Merseyside dedicated to helping deaf pupils speak has lost its battle for survival. Directors at Birkdale School for the Hearing Impaired announced it is to close in July after the failure of a four-month campaign to solve its funding crisis. The school is being forced to close because of declining pupil numbers blamed on a Government policy of pushing more children with special needs into mainstream schools. It is the only school in the North West to teach pupils to speak rather than to use sign. A parents’ spokeswoman said that many fought to get their children into Birkdale and now they were going to have to return to mainstream where they were ‘marginalised, bullied and excluded’.
Daily Post (Liverpool), April 12, 2003.

Two new schools for children and young adults with special learning needs are once again being considered for Nuneaton. The Griff and Leyland special schools are set close in August with pupils moving to new premises on the site of the former North Wing of George Eliot school. Parents and carers who were consulted said they would prefer a single school for the children but the Government’s Baroness Ashton, the Minister responsible for special needs education, has taken a ‘personal interest’ and made clear that Government funding will only be available for the two schools proposal.
Heartland Evening News, (Nuneaton), April 15, 2003.

The best interests of pupils may be endangered by the Government’s targets to include special needs children in mainstream schools, according to a teachers’ leader. Delegates at the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers conference in Bournemouth unanimously passed a motion criticising the Government’s insistence that many pupils with learning disabilities and behaviour problems must attend mainstream schools. Eamonn O’Kane, general secretary of the union, which is Britain’s second largest said: ‘The education of children with special educational needs must take into account the best interests of all pupils. The Government’s insistence on targets for inclusion of SEN pupils means some students with learning needs may not be in the right environment. A mainstream schooling may not give them the opportunities they deserve and may also be to the detriment of other pupils.’ Mr. O’Kane added that the ‘rush to close special schools was ill-judged’.
Birmingham Post, April 23, 2003.

Severely dyslexic children could be left without specialist education after their school announced it is closing in September. Anxious parents of pupils at the Willoughby Hall Dyslexia Centre in Hampstead, London, say they are now struggling to find a suitable replacement after being given only one term’s warning by teachers. They fear they will be forced to put their children into schools that will not be able to cater for their special needs.
Wood and Vale, April 25, 2003.