Parents urged to give views on special needs education (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Parents in Richmond urged to give views on special needs education
6:50am Monday 1st February 2010 in News By Chris Wickham
A consultation into secondary school provision for children with special educational needs (SEN) starts next week.
The borough’s education chief had said a “new structure” was needed for the service and this week he confirmed parents will be asked for their views.
Councillor Malcolm Eady, Richmond Council’s cabinet member for children’s services and education, said: “The consultation will go out at the end of this week and there will be differences to what we proposed [in November].
“These have come about as a result of the pre-consultation.”
Coun Eady refused to comment on how the consultation had changed but Richmond Council has attracted criticism for some of its plans to alter the governance of Strathmore and Clarendon Schools, the borough’s two schools for pupils with special needs.
The plan had included the two forming an alliance with a single governing body and an executive head overseeing both.
The scheme was also set to join Richmond House, a unit at Hampton Community College, and Whitton Gateway, a unit at Whitton School, to Clarendon.
Councillor David Marlow, Richmond Conservatives’ deputy leader, said the concerns of governors at the two schools should not be ignored and accused the council of failing to provide facilities that were up to scratch.
He added: “The teachers and staff are doing a fantastic job in poor conditions and it is time they were provided with the facilities they and the children deserve.”
But Coun Eady said: “SEN provision in this borough is in a very good state. Most children in this category are in mainstream borough schools with the rest either in our special schools or at out-of-borough provision.
“The consultation exercise came about because of our need to ensure that the SEN provision in the borough continued to match the current needs.
“Our two special schools need rebuilding. Last year we produced an outline design for Strathmore, but this has had to be shelved as capital is needed to provide more primary school places. We will be using part of an £8m allocation from Government on SEN provision, and this is currently being discussed with the schools.”
Coun Eady added the authority was also looking to improve the provision for children with special needs in primary schools.
