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Support team for disabled children cut by council
EIGHT specialist workers who support disabled children are being axed due to council cutbacks.
A team of 30 staff at Stoke-on-Trent City Council help children with hearing impairments, sight difficulties, autism and mental and physical special needs.
But the authority is currently restructuring its workforceers and the new team will contain just 22 workers.
The changes are being introduced as the budget for integrated services, including the team which working s with children with special needs, has been slashed from £5.04 million to £3.4 million.
One of the slashed positions being lost axed is believed to be a teacher of the deaf, causing a national charity to name Stoke-on-Trent as one of the worst places in Britain to raise a deaf child.
The city council has already axed four teachers of the deaf since January last year prompting worried parents and the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) to launch a campaign calling for on the posts to be reinstated.
A petition on the city council’s website has so far been signed by 505 people worried about how the job losses will affect deaf children.
But despite the campaign, further cuts have been made.
Now the charity claims there are just three visiting teachers of the deafplease don’t change wording – this is what they are called to work with the city’s 200 hearing-impaired children.
The remaining teachers, who work with children and their families from the moment they are diagnosed, will now each have to juggle the caseloads of around 70 children each.
NDCS has now written to Education Secretary Michael Gove, calling on him to intervene.
And the charity is considering taking legal action against the authority as it believes the council failed to consult parents properly and did not properly assess the impact of its cuts on equality.
Jo Campion, NDCS deputy director, policy and campaigns, said: “We are absolutely appalled to learn that yet another cut has been made to the support team for deaf children in Stoke-on-Trent.
“The city is now one of the worst areas in the country to bring up a child who is deaf.
“Without the right support, deaf children and young people are vulnerable to isolation, abuse, bullying, poor self-esteem and low levels of achievement.”
“NDCS is calling on the Secretary of State to directly intervene in these cuts and use his legal powers to ensure that deaf children in Stoke-on-Trent are getting the essential support they need.”
Katy Evans has a three-year-old son Charlie, who is deaf.
The 26-year-old, from Stoke, said: “I am furious that another teacher of the deaf has been cut – I am losing sleep over it.
“Charlie was born deaf and has two years of learning and development to catch up on.
“He needs this specialist help to bridge the gap between him and other children.”
Sharon Menghini, pictured left, director of children and young people’s services at the city council, said: “A restructure is currently taking place among staff who support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
“This means we won’t comment on specific staffing issues, however, the restructure of the central support services for special educational needs and disability, – including hearing difficulties, – will provide a more integrated service for supporting deaf children in mainstream schools.”
“This new team will include teachers and support staff who will support schools to ensure that all children with special needs and disabilities make good progress across the city and continue to build on the good work already taking place in this area by our staff.”
EIGHT specialist workers who support disabled children are being axed due to council cutbacks.
A team of 30 staff at Stoke-on-Trent City Council help children with hearing impairments, sight difficulties, autism and mental and physical special needs.
But the authority is currently restructuring its workforceers and the new team will contain just 22 workers.
The changes are being introduced as the budget for integrated services, including the team which working s with children with special needs, has been slashed from £5.04 million to £3.4 million.
One of the slashed positions being lost axed is believed to be a teacher of the deaf, causing a national charity to name Stoke-on-Trent as one of the worst places in Britain to raise a deaf child.
The city council has already axed four teachers of the deaf since January last year prompting worried parents and the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) to launch a campaign calling for on the posts to be reinstated.
A petition on the city council’s website has so far been signed by 505 people worried about how the job losses will affect deaf children.
But despite the campaign, further cuts have been made.
Now the charity claims there are just three visiting teachers of the deafplease don’t change wording – this is what they are called to work with the city’s 200 hearing-impaired children.
The remaining teachers, who work with children and their families from the moment they are diagnosed, will now each have to juggle the caseloads of around 70 children each.
NDCS has now written to Education Secretary Michael Gove, calling on him to intervene.
And the charity is considering taking legal action against the authority as it believes the council failed to consult parents properly and did not properly assess the impact of its cuts on equality.
Jo Campion, NDCS deputy director, policy and campaigns, said: “We are absolutely appalled to learn that yet another cut has been made to the support team for deaf children in Stoke-on-Trent.
“The city is now one of the worst areas in the country to bring up a child who is deaf.
“Without the right support, deaf children and young people are vulnerable to isolation, abuse, bullying, poor self-esteem and low levels of achievement.”
“NDCS is calling on the Secretary of State to directly intervene in these cuts and use his legal powers to ensure that deaf children in Stoke-on-Trent are getting the essential support they need.”
Katy Evans has a three-year-old son Charlie, who is deaf.
The 26-year-old, from Stoke, said: “I am furious that another teacher of the deaf has been cut – I am losing sleep over it.
“Charlie was born deaf and has two years of learning and development to catch up on.
“He needs this specialist help to bridge the gap between him and other children.”
Sharon Menghini, pictured left, director of children and young people’s services at the city council, said: “A restructure is currently taking place among staff who support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
“This means we won’t comment on specific staffing issues, however, the restructure of the central support services for special educational needs and disability, – including hearing difficulties, – will provide a more integrated service for supporting deaf children in mainstream schools.”
“This new team will include teachers and support staff who will support schools to ensure that all children with special needs and disabilities make good progress across the city and continue to build on the good work already taking place in this area by our staff.”