In Lewisham we aim to do the best for every child. This means making sure they are able to gain all the knowledge and skills they need to become confident adults who are good members of their local communities and able to play their part in society.
For children with special educational needs (SEN), our main principles are:
- that they should be able to go to a school in Lewisham
- that as many children as possible can go for all or part of their learning to ordinary (mainstream) schools, so that they can learn and play alongside other children with a range of abilities and backgrounds.
Many do that already, and some of the children in special schools spend a day or more a week in mainstream schools.
However, too many children have to go out of Lewisham to a special school, especially when they reach secondary age. This is particularly true for the growing number of children with autism and other complex difficulties.
Our proposed changes for SEN services
Developments were proposed to strengthen and improve provision in the borough for children with special educational needs.
There has been public consultation through written documents and a range of meetings with parents, professionals and young people, following which some amendments were proposed.
You can find details of the proposals and our consultation below. You will also find a consultation form concerning the development of resource bases at Holbeach Primary School and Bonus Pastor Secondary School (the closing date for this specific consultation is 15 February).
A statutory notice was published on 25th June 2008 to implement the resource base at Perrymount Primary School, for pupils with physical and/or medical difficulties and associated cognitive needs. The full text of the proposal is attached below.
Actions agreed by the Mayor
Following consultation, a final paper was passed to the Mayor for his agreement. The Mayor accepted the revised proposals with some further adjustments. In doing so he expressed commitment to improving local provision while acknowledging concerns expressed by some respondents and campaigners.
Implementation of the proposals will be scrutinised with care by the Mayor at each stage.
He agreed that we will proceed with the following actions:
- increase training for mainstream school staff to work with children with SEN
- develop the outreach team to support children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (without waiting for the opening of a new ASD school)
- develop the services provided by the special schools to support children with SEN in mainstream schools
He agreed that we should publish statutory notices for the following schools to provide new resource bases with specialist staff for children with SEN:
- John Ball Primary School – Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Tidemill Primary School – speech, language and communication needs
- Perrymount Primary School – complex physical and medical needs
- Forster Park Primary School – speech, language and communication needs
- Catford High School – learning difficulty and disability
- Addey and Stanhope Secondary School - speech language and communication needs.
He also said that we should consult with governors, staff and parents about setting up further specialist resource bases at:
- Holbeach Primary School - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Bonus Pastor Secondary - speech, language and communication Needs
Further actions that were agreed at the meeting were:
- to conduct initial consultation about the proposal to move Brent Knoll School to the Leahurst Road site (which was previously Ennersdale Primary)
- to publish statutory notices to change provision at Brent Knoll school to become an 11-19 special school for 84 children with complex needs on a site to be decided following that consultation
delay the phasing out of the primary provision at Brent Knoll until sufficient primary resource base places are available
- begin the competition process for the establishment of a new school for children with ASD aged 4 to 19 on the Pendragon School site and begin the statutory process for the associated closure of Meadowgate and Pendragon Special Schools
- arrange for the Hospital Education and Outreach Service to be managed by Abbey Manor College
- provide the Mayor with a further report about good practice in involving parents and staff in moving forward, so that we can do that with the support of an increased Parent Partnership Service
- strengthen the way in which we and the schools forum monitor and expect schools to account for the quality of their arrangements for children with SEN.
The full report is available from the Mayor and Cabinet 3 October 2007 page.
The minutes of the consultation focus groups are available below.
Note on resource bases: These are specially funded bases in mainstream schools for children with a particular type of need. In these the school employs specialist staff and the children with that special need are taught for part of the time in the base and for part of the time with specialist support in mainstream classes.