Special Schools and Special Educational Needs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:33 pm on 22 June 2005.

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Photo of Judy Mallaber Judy Mallaber Labour, Amber Valley 3:33, 22 June 2005

In Amber Valley, the proportion of pupils in maintained special schools is the same now as in 1997. I want to praise the skills and dedication of teachers and other staff in those schools and of those working with pupils with special needs in mainstream schools. Parents rightly want the choice of what is right for their child.

I have sat in the station buffet in Derby watching young people have an animated conversation through the glass doors. They had come from the Royal School for the Deaf. I have also been in a Committee Room in the House seeing staff from Aldercar infants school in my constituency receive a national training award for their work with deaf children who are integrated into their school. Even the taxi drivers get training in sign language and parents who got involved now have national vocational qualifications in social care and special needs.

National policies are carried out by local authorities. If Labour had an agenda to close special schools and to limit choice, we would see it in Labour Derbyshire. Labour does not have that agenda. I shall give some examples. Derbyshire county council has had excellent ratings three times running in the comprehensive performance assessments. Ofsted says it is a good LEA and it has above average performance on special needs. Derbyshire's principal educational psychologist has nearly finished an 18-month review of all special needs, including special schools. Derbyshire's cabinet member for education said to me yesterday, "This review is not to close special schools, but to provide a mixed pattern of education to meet the needs of children and parents." Do the Opposition really want to take away Derbyshire's right to assess local needs?

Let us examine the case of a special school that did close in the neighbouring constituency of my hon. Friend Liz Blackman. Two schools amalgamated because the number of children with moderate disabilities seeking places fell, which left spare places. It made sense to close one school to ensure proper provision for those pupils who needed it, and parents were consulted and extra resources obtained. Some of the children at the school had severe physical disabilities, but their cognitive abilities required a fuller curriculum than that provided in that special school, so an enhanced resources provision unit was set up at Aldercar school.

I recently visited that unit, which has excellent facilities, and met Louise, who has cerebral palsy and uses an augmentative electronic communications system, which it was amazing to see her use. I met Robert, who has severe cerebral palsy. He used to go to a residential school out of the county, but his parents became concerned because he withdrew into himself and did not enjoy the residential experience, and they asked for him to come to Aldercar school. Those children spend time in the special unit when they need special help, but they also spend a lot of time in the mainstream school, which has to amend the curriculum accordingly. That allows Louise to do PE and Carl, who wants to study the performing arts, to work on his BTEC with other pupils.

Aldercar school takes pupils other than those in that unit, including the most severely autistic child in Derbyshire in mainstream education. Her parents asked for her to go to the school because they wanted her to experience mainstream education, and they are delighted by her progress. When she does funny things, such as quacking, the other children say, "Oh, that is Emily"—she is part of the school. In September, the school will take a child with multiple problems with muscular dystrophy, and, again, his parents want him to attend the school. Those parents had a choice and asked for their child to go to that school, which is the important point. We need provision that suits children's needs and that is right for individual children.

The children whom I have mentioned attend a mainstream school with special provision, but other children attend special schools. Last year, I visited a special school in Alfreton in my constituency, which was very concerned about staffing and resources. Derbyshire county council has generally been underfunded in comparison with southern counties, and although the gap has been closing, it still lags behind on special school provision, resources, funding and staffing. As well as putting money into mainstream schools, the county council has halved the gap between current special needs provision in Derbyshire and average special needs provision around the country, and it hopes to close that gap completely. Does that sound like Labour closing special schools?