Knockmore is a school for everyone

My son is presently in Mainstream Year 2 and has a Statement of Special Educational Needs. He is 6 years old and was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a little over a year ago, at the end of June 2010.

At the time of his diagnosis, we had already been in and experienced what it was like having our son in a school placement that could not cope with or offer him the provision and support he required.

Despite his nursery being excellent at recognising that my son was presenting with difficulties and referring him for assessment within a few weeks of starting nursery, they simply did not have the staff training, expertise or experience to be able to support my child.

This is not a bad reflection on the school involved but rather a massive let down by the South Eastern Education and Library Board who pride themselves on the special needs provision that they give their schools.

In the first Consultation meeting that they held with Knockmore PS, two representatives from the Board did acknowledge that they know there is a steady increase in ASD and other special needs throughout the Boards area but were unable to tell me if there was another Mainstream School that could cope with and offer the wide range of provisions that Knockmore has given my son.

With that in mind, I also looked at information given within the Draft Proposal that highlights schools within Lisburn that has surplus places but does not state if they have any special needs provisions or experience that could cope with and support my child.

So with this information, I decided to ring these schools and find out for myself.

The general feedback that I got was that not all teachers have special needs training, only a couple had specific training in the area and that there would be others that would have basic training which is a 2 day course that is provided by the SEELB.

One school had staff with no special needs training at all and only their Yr 1 and Yr 2 teachers had training in reading recovery.

Yet again please do not take this as a poor reflection of any schools, it is simply highlighting that the Board needs to give their schools more extensive training with regards to special needs.

They know that there is a steady increase in kids with special needs so do need to provide sufficient provisions not only in specialised units but also within their Mainstream schools.

What I know is that they haven’t put in place the necessary provisions across the other local schools in the area, over a long period of time to give teachers the much needed experience to back up their training, thus enabling them to even have a chance of supporting young children like my son.

This shows a clear lack of planning for long term provision for vulnerable children with special needs.

They have no appropriate plan or placement in mind to support my sons needs but are happy to try to take away the wonderful provisions that are in place for him now at Knockmore.

To simply say that you can close this school and place my son and other vulnerable kids with special needs within any other mainstream school that happens to have surplus places without a well thought out plan to provide long term provision to meet their needs is unrealistic, misguided and would be detrimental to our already vulnerable kids.

Why take away the one great and unique school that is not only renound for its special needs provisions but it can also do so successfully within the mainstream setting meeting the needs of all it’s children? It truely is the school for everyone.

Emma McAfee