Parents will be demonstrating after specialist resources for physically disabled children may be shut at a west London school.
Hillingdon Council has announced it will shut Coteford Infant School’s special educational needs unit.
The protest will take place outside the Civic Centre in Uxbridge from 6pm on Thursday, November 28, coinciding with a full council meeting.
The Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) for physically disabled children is at risk of closure at the Pinner school. A consultation was held by the council which found 96 per cent of respondents are against the closure.
Campaigners said that the demonstration is not simply about the closure of the SRP, but also the treatment of four-year-old Ivy Hopla – who was blocked from joining the SRP by the council – and the wider issue of disability rights in the borough.
Emily Hopla, Ivy’s mum told the LDRS: “‘We are protesting because Hillingdon Council aren’t listening. They promised ‘the right support, at the right time, in the right place.’, but they’ve denied my daughter Ivy a spot in the SRP and they are shutting it down even though 96% of our community say it should stay open [as shown in the public consultation.]
“The SRP is such an important resource – it helps kids like Ivy and gives every child in our community a real chance to thrive. Hillingdon Council is ignoring us and failing our children. We’re here to stand up and say enough is enough.”
An online petition to save the SRP and ‘give Ivy the education she deserves’ garnered widespread support online, attracting over 3000 signatures. The issue looks unlikely to go away for some time.
At the Children, Families and Education Select Committee a fortnight ago [Thursday, November 13], council officers maintained that the closure was ‘just a technicality’ as there will be ‘no changes to the funding received by these children’.
They went on to tell the committee that there is a lot of fear and confusion around the change during the consultation – telling the committee again no changes will be made.
Labour Councillor Sital Punja, a parent of ex-Coteford pupils herself, questioned this claim, arguing that the report was inaccurate. She argued that as the £6000 place funding will no longer be paid as place funding and instead as exceptional funding this itself is a change.
Cllr Punja went on to say this change indicates the report did not meet the requirements of the equality act by not conducting an equality impact assessment on how this decision may impact disabled children.
In October, ex-Coteford pupil and gold medalist paralympian Natasha Baker told the LDRS she would not have been able to achieve what she has without the SRP. She claimed the decision to consider closing the SRP signified a ‘lack of understanding of disability’.
A number of questions about the SRP closure have been submitted by concerned residents to cabinet members at this week’s full council meeting. One resident has asked: “The Council claims “nothing will change” as SRP therapies move to the NHS, yet this shift risks harmful delays for children with special needs, causing developmental regression and long-term damage. How can the Council deny this harm, and what steps are being taken to address it?”
Hillingdon Council have been approached for comment.
All questions raised by the public and selected will be answered at the full council meeting on Thursday, November 28. The demonstration will take place outside the Civic Centre in Uxbridge from 6pm.
