Vulnerable children are going without vital help in an affluent Tory-run borough because of a special needs funding crisis.
That’s the view of Anita Conradi, the Wandsworth officer for the National Education Union (NEU).
Anita Conradi, NEU officer for Wandsworth, says a special needs funding crisis is seeing schools resort to illegal informal exclusions
Conradi says there has been no increase in resources in Wandsworth despite a huge increase in the number of children with an autism diagnosis.
Wandsworth diagnosis rockets
Figures show the number of children in Wandsworth with a diagnosis was 495 in 2010. It has now more than doubled to 1,205.
Conradi says the shortfall means children can face lengthy waits for diagnosis and illegal informal exclusions from school.
She says a school told one mother she would have to take her five-year-old autistic daughter home from school at 11.30am each day. The reason given was that there were no staff to support her.
“There must be quite a lot of those cases around,” Conradi said.
Concerns over teachers’ service
Concerns are also mounting over the future of a teacher-run support service. It currently has nine staff, who advise schools on managing pupils with special needs.
The service is split between staff who support under-fives and another group responsible for older children.
Conradi says she fears moves to bring the two together will mean six redundancies among the two teams of teacher consultants. She says the staff are already struggling with demand.
UK’s lowest council tax
Wandsworth’s overall average Band D council tax this year totals £770.31. The authority boasts this is the UK’s lowest.
But Conradi fears vulnerable children pay for the low council tax in poor services.
Wandsworth says the teacher-led consultant group is being integrated to provide a more seamless service.
Sarah McDermott is a children’s services spokesperson at Wandsworth. She said the new service will have better availability all-year round, particularly in school holidays.
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Published: 9 April 2019
