oracle Report post Posted October 10, 2005 (edited) deleted Edited November 3, 2006 by oracle Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted October 10, 2005 (edited) Carole, Our LEA is doing exactly the same thing. The new Academy will be massive and is expected to educate between 2000 and 2500 children. They argue that because of the sheer scale of it there will be inevitably be staff with specialist knowledge that will be diseminated naturally! Can you imagine many AS children coping with it. Our LEA insist it is what parents of AS children have been asking for. I don't think so. Strangely enough it is also being built on the site of the worse school in the borough in the most deprived area of the LEA's catchment area. It is being promoted as a major investment in meeting the needs of the most needy and a blueprint for other authorities. Edited October 10, 2005 by Tez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted October 10, 2005 Hi Carole, The people who come up with these ideas, have got........no idea We wrote several posts about this on here a couple of weeks ago didn't we? Academies, then privatisation, then targets to meet so where do SEN children go? The issuing of statements is being cut back, IEPs are going to be fazed out. Next we will probably be told that specialist staff aren't needed because there are no SEN children.....hmmmmmm......frightening. Annie X Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brook Report post Posted October 10, 2005 It's disgusting, basically they dont give a s**t how these children will cope, do they think that all of a sudden the kids in the unit will magically gain coping skills in a HUGE school, quite frankly it sounds like they dont care. The nearest ASD unit to me is 25 miles away, when I have questioned 'why' all you get is 'oh, theres plans in the pipe line', yeah sure, will that happen in my sons school years, I doubt very much. Brook Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
annie Report post Posted October 10, 2005 Hi Brook, do they think that all of a sudden the kids in the unit will magically gain coping skills in a HUGE school, I have no idea how, but apparently they do. I go along with Carole's theory that AS will be downgraded as a disability. Not having a statement in the future will take away any legal rights for provision too. Annie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smallworld Report post Posted October 10, 2005 Interesting to note that these 'academies' seem to be being built in more deprived areas. I think this is because councils think there will be less resistance from local parents. This backfired on our council, the parents fought a tremendous campaign to block a proposed academy. I assume they're now looking for another secondary school in the area so they can go ahead with privatising education Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tez Report post Posted October 10, 2005 (edited) Waccoe, The one in our Borough is being built on the site of a school currently in Special Measures. Frighteningly many parents think that this new Academy is the solution. It has been sold really well. There are two other comprehensives in the north of the borough, one is also in Special Measures, the other my son's school, is overdue an Inspection, don't know how they've wrangled the delay but the reason is obvious to anyone who knows the school and the fact that any alternatives have already failed their Inspections. I think that many parents are only too glad to be offered something new. Edited October 10, 2005 by Tez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smallworld Report post Posted October 10, 2005 Yep, exact same story here re. special measures. The parents objected to the academy because of the foundation behind the money. They didn't want a school with a fundamentalist christian ethos. wac Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oracle Report post Posted October 10, 2005 (edited) deleted Edited November 3, 2006 by oracle Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
call me jaded Report post Posted October 11, 2005 Actually the Head of Inclusion at my LEA tells me they're looking at regional ASD provision i.e. an ASD-specific secondary for two/three London boroughs. They've got the message loud and clear that parents are moving from mainstream. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zemanski Report post Posted October 11, 2005 When Com's school gets rebuilt it's going to have the first purpose built ASD specific resource in the LEA. given that the LEA currently has no AS resources whatsoever at the moment that's a big step up for us. The down sides are: 1. there are no plans for a separate specialist resource - we need it desperately but the LEA think this is going to be enough and they can all cope in mainstream once it's in place 2. it won't open till 2008 - Com should be in the 6th form if he makes it through that far there's a good 'moaning' thread about schools and politics Zemanski Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rainbow queen Report post Posted October 12, 2005 hi guys i attended a meeting last week about this happening,everyone was up in arms about it,and people were arguing back at the education officials,they also tryed avoiding questions about it,then we had to split into groups to put our side across and what we thought of it,parent partnership were there too. i think its wrong-how are they going to train all the staff and teachers to deal with children who have as or other disabilitys-as all mainstream kids will be together with special needs,i cant see it working. my son was ment to go to a special school-then at last min they change minds and say hes doing well ,hes ok-hes at mainstream only been there 4 weeks[not dx as yet-still persuing it,but has global developmental delay].i found out at this meeting that the special school is going to be shut down-i feel this is why my son was pushed into mainstream[saying hes alright] cause they had that in the pipeline already and never told me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites