Cameron confronted about special schools inclusion policy

[longfingernails]

I can't help but feel that the heckler was being pretty unreasonable, though I understand completely why he is angry. Cameron tried to answer his questions but he just didn't listen. I feel quite sorry for both of them.

news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/David-Cameron-Is-Confronted-By-A-Parent-Who-Struggled-To-Get-Chil d-Into-Mainstream-School/Article/201004415620837?lpos=PoliticsFirstHomeArticleTeaserRegion1&li d=ARTICLE15620837DavidCameronIsConfrontedByAParentWhoStruggledToGetChildIntoMainstrea mSchool

geek

thanks for the cuppa
I shouldn't have flared at that.I'm sorry.

I am just defensive about DS2s school. It is astonishing, populated by amazing people who have managed to get DS2 accessing this which, for him, are amazing.
For example. He is very anxious about attention and struggles to speak to strangers especially outside the home. Last christmas he walked up toi the front and sang a solo . I wept like a fool it was HUGE thing for him to do.
He reads close to his actual age now, writes well , something they have achived in spite of his very very limited ability to speak coherently ( or indeed at all).

Of course there are shit schools - there are in every category of school from special to private to faith.. but most parents make the best choice for their own child.

Do you have any biscuits to go with that cuppa?

I do feel for the parent as he is not getting the education for his child that he feels he deserves. I can see where he is angry about the tory pledge, it is very badly written but the only other way to write it would be to include the word choice and most of us know we don't have a choice in where our kids are educated.

My son was refused by our mainstream primary and they were totally reluctant to offer the level of support he needed. I was told if his TA was unable to get to school then he would have to stay at home as he needed such high levels of support. I am so happy they did this as the SN school he is at is great for him.
He has autism and severe behavioural difficulties so is a difficult child to manage. Yes he has struggled with school life but the teachers have worked hard with him and after 8 years there he has developed so well. He can sign, one thing we were told he wouldn't grasp so there was no point trying. He simply picked it up from watching some of the other kids signing. He also has independence within the school which has been slow but with gentle help from all involved amazes us.
he is well known and liked in the school (about 100 pupils) another amazing feat, and everyones knows his name.
The school are quick and willing to draft in staff to help with him, like for instance when he broke his leg and was confined to a wheelchair for 6 weeks and when he is being especially difficult and needs extra help.

I did as PAG says I found the best solution for my son, admittedly it could of been easier to find this help but it also could of been harder so I won't complain.

There are 5-6 SN schools within driving distance(up to 50 miles) so we are definitely in a better place then RIVEN or GEEK

Agree with Fio.

When ds1 was 4 I was told he had to go to a mainstream school because he was 'coping in mainstream'. Actually he was coping in a supposedly ms nursery- but one which had an awful lot of non mainstream support. He managed 4 part time terms and 1 full time one when he moved into an SLD school where he should have been from the beginning. He has flourished there.

Currently the law does support mainstream- parents have the right to push for a mainstream school - and the schools have to explain why if they say no. There is no right to push for specialist provision. Anyone who ended that imbalance would get my vote on that particular policy without hesitation.

DS1 at mainstream was educated in a different room from other children. He was allowed into the playground at different times. He wasn't allowed on school trips. He was completely and utterly excluded. And he didn't learn a thing. Except how to pinch people.

Now - now he's in an environment with locked doors he can be free. He goes out into the community several times every week and he has learned skills that allow him to access the world in a meaningful way. Likewise his respite centre (another thing the inclusion brigade gets upset about) provides him with a place he can go and learn about independence. And he goes out several times each day (more than when he's here because a) they have more hands on deck and b) they have access to safer spaces than me).

I'm quite happy to fight for the right for someone to have their disabled child educated in mainstream if that's what they want- the law supports that anyway. But I'd rather not be told that special schools are useless places. People who insist on inclusion (so called) exclude my son.

and to be honest I don't see anything wrong with saying 'out into the community'(my words- I think school call it 'going to the shops' or 'going to the library'). Better than sitting in mainstream school in an entirely separate room from the rest of the class. He is fully included in his school community with his peers - which is essential and he accesses the wider commnunity because he has people who a) will take him and b) it's built into the curriculum. Without specialist provision he doesn't access the wider community at all - one of the biggest problems with school holidays - it is so very difficult for us to get out into the wider community because so much of it is and always will be inaccessible to him. Give me safe havens anyday.

agree with saintly and fio, especially
"people who insist on inclusion exclude my son"

My boys' mainstream school calls excursions out of the school doors going out into the community, too. I have no problem with it.

And picking up on the GCSEs part of the thread, I will be expecting my boys to take GCSEs. Heck, I would hope for DS1 to be able to go to university if that's what he wants, when the time comes. I will admit that I am about sending him to special school for this reason.

Also, if he went to a special school, "going out into the community" would not be our community. It would be some other community, several miles away. Living in a village, that is a genuine concern for us.

My concern for the founding of more special schools only goes so far as worrying what the impact on MS SEN budgets and provision of TAs would be. However, if it means that schools catering well to the needs of kids with all levels of ASDs proliferate, then I'm all over it.

The point surely is that optimum education should be delivered in the setting most suitable for the child in question.

Whichever side of this you are seems to shape the response because people are fearful for their childs suitable education wil be withdrawn. That is a by product of getting anything like a decent placemant is a terribly difficult experience fraught with worry.

But in my book rebalancing has got to be a good thing. The 'push' to mainstream for children who were not suitable and parents who did not want it was wrong. And it was cost cutting dressed up as policy.
I would like to see some of the special schools re-open so that parents have choice.

People who chose mainstream and whose children thrive in that enviroment should continue to get that support. But I know many many many parents who feel that mainstream is failing their child and have no option as there are too few good SN schools left

YY
With the correct support.

strapped in"
ffs in tis called postere manangemanet.
dd had athetoid cp if hse is not "strapped" in she can't work.
with the correctseating(yes that meands her feet in straps and stuff like that she can concetrate on working.
dd is severly diasbelld "not impaired" and in a brilliant sn school, I have just been out to see her do a school play, it was noisy(yes some dc's are quiet) and she is so happy there. I hope sn school continue for a long time as imo inclusion means eaxclusion for kids like dd.

it worries me Fio, young people like dd need a safe enviroment to learn in, MS imo cannot offer that, and how can it be inclusion if you have 2 dc's in wheelchairs in a class.......of 30

Riven
I think that is a source of disagreement too - that different areas attract differnt experinebces and emphasis based on what is available.

At DS2s nursery the owner was told by the LEA to stop suggesting special schools to the parents of DS2s peers. They told her that the policy was to send children to mainstrean with support in the first instance and only if that could not be supported at appeal should SN school be talked about.
They actually used the phrase lower expectations.

I think this is also to do with the specific issues around ASD and the number of children who need SN support compared to the astronomical number of children who are on the spectrum.
These are often kids who on first glance seem likely to cope with the academic side but cannot cope with classroom /social situation and often get handed barely adequate support staff.
It is a problem that will only get worse.

Well that made no fucking sense at all....