our LEA is shutting special schools

[Jimjams]

They let it slip at a meeting this morning. I am off to the same meeting this evening (it's run twice) so will be asking them to expand on this interesting development. Idiots. The special shcool places are oversubscribed as it is.

Message withdrawn

Oh whoops- no think its just some- but they're not saying which. The other SLD school has a temporary head and everyone says its vulnerable. We looked around it- and there were children there on oxygen, some non-verbal, and some PMLD. where on earth are they going to put these children. A PMLD school is shutting next week and places haven't been confirmed for the children at other schools yet.

they shut some round here and now the special schools that are left are completely oversubscribed, for example at dd's school they usually have a yearly intake in reception of about 4-6 children. this year they have an intake of 12!

I hope they dont shut all special schools I have no idea how they think our chilkdren that go to them, esp SLD/complex needs schools would cope in a mainstream environment

Oh My God! All special schools? I know our LEA are looking to shut an MLD school and maybe one other.
Bloody inclusion

what does PMLD stand for again?

I think the quote was "as parents tyou have to accept that special schools will be closing and that's the way it is".

BNTW the meeting is supposedly to give parents a chance to give their POV before any decisions are made. Yeah right.

They were "surprised" how many people turned up. Probably because they only sent out a handful of invites and it was only because a bunch of people got together to send it out more widely that most of us even know about it.

no, no it is some, not sure how many or which.
Profound and multiple lerarning difficulties fio....

thanks jimjams, i am having brain malfunction today

There are definitely rumblings across the country. Somebody in the know told me to fight 'tooth and nail' for DD's 'unit' place as they will be decreasing spaces, not increasing them

Hmmm, funnily enough our LEA held a similar meeting, to which only a very few parents (none?) were invited, and were then 'surprised' when most of the local ASD support group turned up after being tipped off. Perhaps this is part of the new national policy .

If inclusion is the policy, you would think they would be looking to put more expertise/training/resources into mainstream schools for special needs, but this doesn't seem to be the case across the board. In my borough they are addressing dyslexia - aiming to have at least one trained teacher in each school. But for ASD, there seems to be no benchmark, no recognised qualification or training - I don't know if this does exist in other LEAs?

Did anyone else hear Dame Mary Warnock on Radio 5 today talking about inclusion? I only caught a couple of minutes of her interview.

When are the men in grey suits gonna wake up and realise inclusion just doesnt work for some children!

Why as parents of children with SN are we given the added pressure of making sure our children get what they deserve....an education in an environment where all of their educational and emotional needs are met.

Havent we got enough to do....our children take up so much more time and energy and then we have to find the time to battle with the big wigs. No wonder the majority of SN parents are knackered, need respite etc.

This just sucks.

just found this

Oh SHIT!

This is just so stupid, jimjams, what the hell are these people thinking of....don't tell me, saving money!

How can children with PMLD/SLD be 'included into mainstream? The chool I work in can hardly work with children with ADHD to their best outcome, let alone more vulnerable children. At present it is taking us 18 months to get a child refered to the ED Psych for EBD.....how could SLD cope in this sort of environment? Most teachers don't have enough into about ASD , let alone anything more complex. I could weep for the stupidity of all of this!

I was just reading jayzmummy's other thread and it reminds me how lovely special school s are for our children to make friends

I haven't read this, but it might be of interest
PACEview

As far as I know, my LEA has no intention of closing special schools and is, in fact, working on opening more ASD provision. I am the Parent Rep on the Autism Advisory Group so I do get to know about their plans (why else would I do it?). I wonder if this is because of the nature of the area, high density of population, therefore a high number of children with disability and SN and obviously growing numbers of children with ASD. Also, having NO ASD provision until fairly recently, the LEA has found itself having to fund home progs due to there being no other alternative......

our school is having a massive extension, make of that what you will??!!!

well the meeting was boring (same old same old). But interestingly the evening talk had been changed a bit to "this lea does not want to shut all special schools, we are comitted to our special schools BUT we have a very high number of special schools for an authority of our size."

So make of that what you will.

Message withdrawn

I couldn't believe how much jargon was used in the meeting I went to, and all delivered with a completely straight face - when you scratched the surface they were really saying very little. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in one of their internal meetings.