Thanos Morphitis
Assistant Director, Pupil Services
CEA@Islington
Laycock Street
London
N1 1TH
23rd November 2001
Dear Thanos,
Below is a copy of the NASUWT response to the consultation on the closure of Harborough and Rosemary Schools. It broadly mirrors the points made at our meeting yesterday and has been sent to Candy Holder on the pro forma. As time is short, I thought that providing you with a copy directly would be more effective than waiting for the notes of the meeting to be transcribed.
Ÿ
While we welcome the opportunity for new facilities, it is not clear why two storey buildings would be suitable for special schools if some students have mobility difficulties.Ÿ
The only way to prevent duplication is to have one site. More than one site predicates the need for more than one of each type of facility.Ÿ
The real topic to be discussed is the role of the "service areas" - the consultation confuses the roles of a school and a PRU/centralised service. The proposed management arrangements are unclear, as are the financial arrangements. The funding of individual students will mean that schools will buy into the school as a service provider, while a centralised budget will be needed for links. the school cannot be accountable for this without interfering with the rights of the governing body.Ÿ
Issues raised about the concentration of children with a particular type of SEN in specific schools have not been addressed or even discussed.Ÿ
The costs of outreach/integration into other sites have not been considered, despite the suggestion that the school will be the centre of a "service area".Ÿ
It is not sufficient to simply say that class size is a matter for schools when developing a policy on integration. This benefits nobody.Ÿ
No models have been provided showing how this type of arrangement could work, particularly relating to the role of staff.
Yours sincerely,
Greg Robbins