Save St Michael's EBD Unit & Improve Educational Provision for Children with Additional Needs

Children with emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties are being denied an education. In BANES (Bath and North East Somerset) there is currently only one EBD (Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties) Unit for primary age children. It offers places for just six children.

The future of this Unit is now under threat and it is expected to close in the summer of 2018. The decision about the future of the Unit will be made in the next couple of months.

I am the mother of Winnie who started at the school in January 2017. Winnie is a lively, bubbly, charismatic nine year old girl who also has social, emotional and learning difficulties. My daughter has the ability to learn but she needs a lot of encouragement and support to help her with this.

Since moving to St Michael's she has flourished. She is receiving the support she needs. We have seen huge progress in her behaviour at school. She is playing with other children again, she is listening to the adults and she is starting to read and write and show an interest in the world around her. And we are starting to see the bright bubbly girl who had disappeared in to a shell of hostility, emerge again. The school understands her. They have the skills and experience to manage her behaviour and they have found a way to encourage her to learn.

Gaining a place at the school wasn't easy. We had to fight for it because its is the only school in the area that offers this type of support. Prior to this she attended a special school. During her time there she regressed in every single way, emotionally, socially, behaviourally and academically. Although a lovely and well respected school, it’s strength lies in dealing with severely disabled children, not children like Winnie.

There is very limited provision for children like Winnie within the education system. Many mainstream schools do not even return your calls when you phone to enquire about SEN (Special Educational Needs) places. Children with additional/special needs affect Ofsted ratings. Gaining a place at St Michael's wasn't easy. We had to fight for it.

And now we have been informed that due to cuts in government funding and the increasing pressure on schools to meet government targets, the St Michael’s school governors feel it is no longer viable to run the Unit as part of the mainstream school.

There is nowhere for children like Winnie to go.

What will happen to these children? What will their future's hold? Surely in the long-run denying them an education will cost the government far more?

Children like Winnie have potential. They may not grow up to be brain surgeons or stock market traders, but they do face a bright future if they are given the right support while they are young. Denying them this support is denying them a future.

These children deserve an education. Without an education they have no future. This is a petition to save the St Michael’s EBD Unit. It is also a plea to the government to not forget these children and to provide them with the help and support they not only need, but above all else deserve.

For more information and to read my daughter's story visit the Educating Winnie Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pg/Educating-Winnie-887168268092797/about/?ref=page_internal