Trevor Daniels, Head of Special Educational Needs, will give a presentation on changes to services for children with Special Educational Needs. This will be followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions.
Minutes:
Carolyn Godfrey, Director for Children and Education, gave a presentation on changes to services for children with Special Educational Needs.
The presentation covered the following main points:
· Why a review of Special Educational Needs provision was taking place.
· The consultation process – this would close on 24 May 2010 at noon.
· Provisions covered by the review.
· Aims of the review.
· Funding issues.
· Data relating specifically to Malmesbury Primary School.
This was followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions, when the following main points were raised:
· Low take up of resources should be investigated. It was commented there was a lower incidence and degree of Special Educational Needs in Malmesbury compared to the county average.
· Too much Council bureaucracy.
· The Centre Manager in Malmesbury had contacted all cluster schools and every six weeks discussed children they could help with Educational Psychologists. Educational Psychologists visited all schools and worked with Special Educational Needs Coordinators. Concern was raised over relying on an individual Educational Pschologist to communicate needs of children.
· Work was needed to improve communication between Malmesbury Primary School and the cluster schools.
· Lack of consideration of the financial or emotional consequences of withdrawing funding from the unit.
· Insufficient attention directed to transport issues involved.
· Concern over the impact of diluting the funding to an array of smaller schools that do not have the capacity, expertise or stamina to accommodate vulnerable children with special needs.
· There was wide evidence that early detection of special needs support is helpful and effective to avoid more costly interventions at a later age for the child.
· Special Educational Needs centres were keen to do more outreach work with local schools.
· The review missed the value of having a beacon school in the north of the county.
· Long term provision for the community would need to be taken into account.
Decisions
1) The Area Board asks the Department for Children and Education to contact parents of the children admitted by Wiltshire to the Centre to discuss arrangements for their child at an appropriate time.
2) The Area Board requests the Department for Children and Education to work with the school to clarify the funding streams that are in place at the school to ensure appropriate use of the resources for the Wiltshire nominated pupils, and for other pupils with SEN at the school.
3) The Area Board would encourage the school to fully engage with the ongoing discussions regarding the development of Complex Needs Centres, and to take guidance from the Department for Children and Education regarding examples of schools with other models of SEN provision so that the school can assess a range of models.
4) Following on from the implementation of new service agreements for all Wiltshire centres the Area Board suggests that the school works with the Local Authority SEN school support services as part of the future support network for other schools.
5) The Area Board suggests that the school updates its information to parents to meet the requirements of SEN regulations.
The Chairman thanked everyone for their contributions on the subject. Councillor Lionel Grundy, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, assured the meeting this was genuine consultation and no decision had yet been made on Special Educational Needs provision in the area. Councillor Grundy would take all feedback from the meeting to the Cabinet.