Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
This is Staffordshire | Deaf charity anxious about teaching roles
COUNCIL bosses have declined to commit to protecting current levels of services for deaf children.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has reduced its number of teachers of the deaf from eight in April 2009 to four.
Of the remaining teachers, three are peripatetic while one is based at the Willows Primary School in Penkhull.
A teacher previously based at Thistley Hough High School retired due to ill health in 2009/10 and was not replaced.
But the authority admitted in a freedom of information request submitted by charity the National Deaf Children's Society, that it did not know how many teachers of the deaf it would employ by January.
David Heap, regional director at NDCS, said: "It is simply unacceptable that we have had to resort to a Freedom of Information request to get a straight answer from Stoke-on-Trent City Council. It confirmed what we and parents had feared: Support for Stoke-on-Trent's 200 deaf children has been halved.
"The council has made the worst cuts in the country to support for deaf children, even though deaf children in the West Midlands are already underachieving at school.
"NDCS and parents are very worried about the impact these cuts will have on the wellbeing of deaf children. "
Residents have until Wednesday to sign an online petition calling on the council to save its support services for deaf children from cuts.
The council's budget, which covers support for special needs youngsters, has been slashed from £5.04 million to £3.4 million as the authority looks to save £35.6 million.
For details of the campaign, visit Take action in Stoke on Trent | NDCS
COUNCIL bosses have declined to commit to protecting current levels of services for deaf children.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has reduced its number of teachers of the deaf from eight in April 2009 to four.
Of the remaining teachers, three are peripatetic while one is based at the Willows Primary School in Penkhull.
A teacher previously based at Thistley Hough High School retired due to ill health in 2009/10 and was not replaced.
But the authority admitted in a freedom of information request submitted by charity the National Deaf Children's Society, that it did not know how many teachers of the deaf it would employ by January.
David Heap, regional director at NDCS, said: "It is simply unacceptable that we have had to resort to a Freedom of Information request to get a straight answer from Stoke-on-Trent City Council. It confirmed what we and parents had feared: Support for Stoke-on-Trent's 200 deaf children has been halved.
"The council has made the worst cuts in the country to support for deaf children, even though deaf children in the West Midlands are already underachieving at school.
"NDCS and parents are very worried about the impact these cuts will have on the wellbeing of deaf children. "
Residents have until Wednesday to sign an online petition calling on the council to save its support services for deaf children from cuts.
The council's budget, which covers support for special needs youngsters, has been slashed from £5.04 million to £3.4 million as the authority looks to save £35.6 million.
For details of the campaign, visit Take action in Stoke on Trent | NDCS
