Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has written to the Department for Education to highlight the Island’s bid for a new Special Educational Needs (SEN) school.
The bid by the Isle of Wight Council calls for an SEN school on the Isle of Wight to give every child on the Island direct access to quality education.
Seely has said in his letter to Kelly Tolhurst, Minister for Schools and Childhood, that the number of children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has increased since the Children and Families Act 2014. The act introduced EHCPs to improve the delivery of health, social care and special educational needs services.
The MP says that the increase in education plans has made it “increasingly challenging” to serve the Island’s children. The answer, he says, is a Special Educational Needs school.
“We currently only have two maintained special schools on the Island and both are now full. This means that, increasingly, the local authority is having to place children in more expensive independent placements. On the Island we have an additional issue, in that if we have to commission independent places on the mainland then this inevitably means long ‘travel to learn’ journeys that are difficult for young people with special needs, or an increased use of residential placements.”
Regarding the Council’s bid, Bob has said that the provision of a new Special Educational Needs school on the Island is essential to meeting the Island’s ambitions.
“Our forecasting model shows that we have the need for a 75-place all through school for children and young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs and Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC). Without it we will increasingly have to place children off-Island”.
Seely concluded his letter to the Education Minister by saying:
“I hope that you are able to support the Isle of Wight Council’s bid to create a new special school on the Isle of Wight in order to help the Council achieve the ambitions of the Department for Education’s Safety Valve programme.”
Bob has congratulated the Isle of Wight Council on its work to date and for the bid. He has said:
“I have been working closely with the council, we will have meetings as soon as possible with Ministers. I will be stressing to education officials that a new SEN school is vital for both specialist education on the Island and all education on the Island. This will help us to give kids the support they need.”
Earlier this week, Seely wrote to Secretary of State for Education, Kit Malthouse, asking for an update on funding that the Island is set to receive as part of the government’s Education Investment Area scheme and enquiring about the possibility of the Island being included in the ‘Priority Education Investment Area’ scheme, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Oooh.
Another letter from Seely.
The same Seely who backed Mordant instead of the bloke who got the top job.
The same Seely who backed Truss instead of the bloke who got the top job.
Honestly, Truss had more chance of outlasting the lettuce than Seely does of getting anything from a Government led by the bloke he backstabbed not once, but twice.
Parents of ‘special needs’ children are given so much extra in Government handouts (which we all pay for) already.
In fiscally challenging times cut backs should effect ALL and imo it should be a case of giving more to those children who have the greatest chance of achieving in life, not those who will likely be a drain on society forever
well said wake up england – they demand equality and equal treatment in society, so they should suffer equal cutbacks and reductions in services.
“They” (the children) don’t “demand” anything. They are children with moderate to severe learning difficulties often due to clinical conditions.
We can either help them achieve independence, or pay to care for them for their entire lives.
It seems you and WOE prefer the latter.
So you would rather adults that are dependent on “handouts” all of their lives, because they had no additional help when they were children?
I would rather the huge sums of money given to parents of needy children was INSTEAD directly used to fund their additional needs in education and care.
For as it now is the parents are given a huge amount extra of handouts and THEN society has to fund them again in building special schools and care costs mobility cars etc
So they get it all ways. Parents don’t need extra as ‘special’ child still has the same costs for feeding and eating , clothing etc as normal children.
Why not just send them all off the the “showers”, eh?
That sort of “final solution” would suit the likes of you, eh?
Good grief, I’ve heard of heartless but this takes the biscuit. These beautiful children didn’t ask to be born this way but they sure as hell bring light as well as joy and challenge to parents lives. They deserve our time, money and everything else to make their lives enjoyable and free from narcissistic comments. I’m lost for further words. Nope, shocked.
no mandy – you may consider that they deserve your time and money, but you do not get to insist that they deserve the time and money of others – others are working and getting as much money as possible to ensure that they can pay their bills and put food on their tables, – you will find that most of us are not remotely interested in subsidising someone elses kids, whether they are going to be productive members of society or just a drain on resources from cradle to grave.
ADHD, autism, Allergies by the bucketload, what a waste of time. Give it a label and in becomes trendy. Pump the kids full of ritalin and such drugs and your on a road to disaster. Oh but then again, there is the handouts they get. Give it up Seely, maybe you should writing a nice letter saying we need another hospital, a far more realistic problem.
It would appear that your are “special needs” when it comes to your own educational level.
Corrected for you:
“ADHD, autism, Allergies by the bucket load, what a waste of time. Give it a label and it becomes trendy. Pump the kids full of Ritalin and such drugs and you’re on a road to disaster. Oh, but then again, there are the handouts they get. Give it up Seely, maybe you should be writing a nice letter saying we need another hospital, which is a far more realistic problem.”
tut tut worky – do not ever make any spelling or grammatical errors in your messages in the future, or it will be pointed out to you.
So they are grammatical errors. They don’t cost the state millions do they. If you have time to get annoyed about them, maybe change your name to “workshy” or should that be “work shy”, sarcasm the lowest form of wit, yep.
This has no chance of success, but keep generating those strongly worded letters, as your track record of delivering for the Island could be written on the back of the postage stamp used to send the letter.
Many of the pupils on EHCPs are there because of their disruptive nature in the classroom rather than truly having learning difficulties.
It’s a thankless task trying to educate children who, after their school day is done, return to a home where there is little or no interaction, no parental discipline and no support.
Building more schools for these pupils is only part of the answer – many schools already have separate classrooms for these pupils. Most of the problems stem from the parents and, until that issue is sorted, the problem of so many disruptive pupils in classrooms will only get worse.
Unfortunately, because of the number of disruptive pupils, those with actual learning difficulties don’t always get the help they need.
The other issue of course is that as more and more ‘ muvvers’ abuse alcohol and drugs as do the oft absent ( for the records) sperm provider then sadly the state will be more and more encumbered by having to fund their offspring.
I am all for trying to educate these unfortunate children but I don’t agree with the parents of such being financially better off as their living costs are the same as normal children and their‘special children’ are looked after by the state at huge expense for trying to educate and treat these children.
They clearly want and have it both ways now.
Need a does of reality into considering WHO pays for their lifestyle.
most of the teachers probably realise that the kids with issues, come from parents who had issues when they were at school. Usual cycle of ability, or lack thereof.
You’ve obviously not heard of neurodiversity, numpty
Why not write to Minister about building a TUNNEL… ferries always cancelling, or do not run at all, how are commuters supposed to get to and from work ???