Edinburgh Evening News

Audit into support change for pupils with additional needs

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Councillor­s in Edinburgh have called for an audit to find out how a decision was made which left parents of pupils with additional support needs in the dark over what support would be available for their children in the following academic year.

Worried parents with kids starting S1 in August raised the alarm last month after being rejected for places in schools’ “enhanced support bases” – instead being told their kids’ complex and varied support needs would be met through “enhanced support provision”.

Despite concerns, education chief Joan Griffiths denied base placements had “been suspended” and gave assurances there was “no planned reduction in resource for these services”.

However the council did not explain why a significan­t number of applicatio­ns were refused for youngsters eligible for placements in additional needs hubs. And councillor­s appear unaware how the decision was arrived at, or what the impact of it will be.

After last month calling for a report setting out any impact from the changes, the scrutiny committee last week backed an internal audit to be carried out to understand if they were driven by council budget cuts or implemente­d in line with Scottish Government policies.

Convener Kate Campbell, SNP, said questions remained about “communicat­ion to parents, to children and young people, to schools, and also the planning around it – making sure there’s additional support for children in mainstream settings and also for physical space needed”.

Simita Kumar, SNP, said councillor­s had to “really understand the needs of our pupils who have the greatest learning needs”.

She said communicat­ion had been “lacking” – but a “good thing” to have emerged from the process was a plan to introduce enhanced support base provision, currently in nine high schools, across “all schools”.

The bases help pupils with disabiliti­es such as Autism and Down Syndrome to thrive in mainstream education settings.

One parent told the LDRS she was left “scared and horrified” after receiving the rejection letter as their son “would not be safe without having a full time one to one support assistant”.

We have to understand the needs of our pupils with the greatest learning needs

 ?? ?? Enhanced support bases help pupils with disabiliti­es such as Autism and Down Syndrome to thrive in mainstream education settings
Enhanced support bases help pupils with disabiliti­es such as Autism and Down Syndrome to thrive in mainstream education settings
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