New school places, Funding & Things to Do 9th February 2018 Dear All Lots to read, lots to do. All the best for half-term week...
Meeting and Consultation: on New Richmond and Kingston school places for children with SEND AfC are planning to increase the number of local school places for children with SEND in mainstream schools, both at primary and secondary level, and in Kingston and Richmond boroughs. They are seeking parent feedback to further shape their current plans, and we will be holding a public meeting for parents to hear these, and to comment upon them directly to Matthew Paul, the AfC Manager running the project. There will be additional opportunities to comment on the plans before and after the meeting via an online consultation process. We have been told that the current proposals cover Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Complex Learning Needs, MLD/ASD, SEMH (social, emotional and mental health), and SLCN (speech, language and communication needs), plus, to a lesser extent, Hearing Impairment/Communication with Associated Learning Needs, Social Communication Needs, and SpLD (specific learning disabilities e.g. dyslexia). If parents feel that there are groups that are not included that should be then it would be very helpful to feed this in as part of the consultation. The final details of the meeting are yet to be confirmed but the current plan is: Thursday 1st March – 10am to 12noon at the Doubletree Hilton, Kingston (close to the Seven Kings car park) We will provide more detail on the meeting and consultation as we have them.
Purdah Small but important – the period of time before an election affects a lot of Council decisions locally. The local elections are on 3rd May 2018; the latest date the pre-election period (purdah) could start is 27 March 2018. “It is important to note that pre-election rules restrict activity wider than just publicity. Use of council facilities and resources; the member’s code of conduct, developing new policies and holding of events - including some meetings - featuring elected officials should all be carefully considered during a period of heightened sensitivity.” https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/purdah
School Funding: What secondary school students in Kingston have to say… Headteachers are being forced to make decisions that are not in the best interests of children because of cuts to funding. Here, young people in Kingston, speak eloquently about the effect on them…