The Shape of things to come?

[oracle]

deleted

Edited November 3, 2006 by oracle

[Tez]

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

[annie]

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

[Brook]

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

[annie]

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

[smallworld]

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

[Tez]

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

[smallworld]

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

[oracle]

deleted

Edited November 3, 2006 by oracle

[call me jaded]

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.

[Zemanski]

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

[rainbow queen]

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