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RICHMOND WATCHDOG OPEN FORUM
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| Subject: Provision for Primary Children with severe EBD. |
Author: Bob Parslow
Date: 11/15/2001 6:15 pm WEDT
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Early History
The Borough has had for many years an excellent provision for our young children with severe EBD – Oldfield House School, as their OFSTED and examination results have shown. It is so good that our neighbouring authorities send many children there.
Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, OHS was unpopular with some of our LEA Officers. They tried once before, in the early nineties, to close the school, but were unsuccessful. Nevertheless they kept up the attack; the SEN Panel consistently reduced the numbers referred to the school, for years dealing with only a fraction of the children referred to them within the statutory period; Officers also blocked every attempt by the governors to expand the use of the site.
When McDonnell arrived as Chief Education Officer, they were able to push forward with their plans to close the school. He announced the closure of Oldfield House in May 1999 before the Education Committee had even considered the matter. Cllr Miller was appointed to Chair of Education and was an ideal front man for the LEA, even if he did constantly assure us that “Oldfield House School would not close”. They reduced the planned places at OHS from 30 to 25, and then from 25 to 18 without following the correct procedures.
There was a flawed consultation exercise on the future of EBD education, in which Oldfield House School was not even mentioned. Nevertheless most of those who responded, ‘wrote in’ their opposition to the closure of the school. These were ignored and plans for the closure went ahead.
The scheme involved putting the children with severe EBD into a unit attached to a mainstream school. The mainstream school was to be Marshgate, which is still not built. When it was pointed out to Cllr Miller that this would mean that, to begin with, eleven year old EBD children were to be included with mainstream five year olds, he changed his mind. Now he had another problem: where would he put the unit? There was no room at any other mainstream school. So the plan changes again: the children would stay at the Oldfield site, managed from a distance.
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Date |
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Provision for Primary Children with severe EBD. |
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Bob Parslow |
11/15/2001 6:15 pm WEDT |
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Bob Parslow |
11/15/2001 6:17 pm WEDT |
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Bob Parslow |
11/15/2001 6:19 pm WEDT |
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Trevor Clarke |
11/15/2001 11:38 pm WEDT |
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