Clause 72 - Closure of special schools: statutory consultation
Education Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mrs Angela Watkinson (Shadow Minister, Education; Upminster, Conservative)
This is a subject close to my heart. I predicted that the Minister would start by telling me that my new clause was unnecessary, but it seeks to halt the closure of special schools.
Since 1997, there have been 70 closures of special schools, yet the number of children in mainstream schools with special needs has risen by 49 per cent. We know that about a quarter of all pupils will have some sort of special needs in part of their school career, if not throughout it. There has also been an increase in the number of children with behavioural problems, which is almost a separate issue.
The new clause states:
“No special school in England shall be closed without the prior authorisation of the Secretary of State ... The Secretary of State shall by regulations prescribe a suitable mechanism to allow him to perform his duties under this section.”
It continues:
“No special school in Wales shall be closed without the prior authorisation of the Assembly ... The Assembly shall by regulations prescribe a suitable mechanism to allow it to perform its duties under this section.”
The needs of special needs children are so diverse that it is impossible to generalise. Many children with special needs—with physical disabilities, health problems or other reasons that give rise to special educational needs—do well in mainstream schools. Others do not. Some children with special needs, no matter how sympathetically or well a mainstream school tries to cope with them, need the more protected environment of a special school, such as the smaller classes. Some of those whose needs are profound are unable to cope, so if they were placed in a mainstream school, it would place a huge burden on teaching staff and the time that they would need devoted to them would be detrimental to the other children.
We need a balance. We need provision in mainstream schools for special needs students who can cope and with whom the school can cope. At the same time, the demand for places in separate special schools is growing. For example, in the whole of Greater London, only one special school caters for children who are profoundly deaf. Lots of deaf children cannot get a place in that school. It is just one example of a range of health problems that means that children need special school provision.
Rather than see any more closures, I wish to see more special schools established where demand has been shown. The purpose of new clause 11 is to halt the closure of special schools and to give us cause to reconsider inclusion, because that is not right for every special needs child. It is right for some but not others. We need to keep the range available, so that children have the ideal provision to suit their purposes.