Parents oppose Send school hour reduction plan

"Hurt and upset" parents whose children attend a special needs school (Send) are campaigning against plans to cut its hours.

Harlow Fields School and College in Essex wants to bring its school day in-line with other Send schools in the county from September.

Parents believe the proposed changes would reduce school time by 9%, while the school said it would be nearer 4%.

The school said it welcomed "parent and carers' views on the proposals as part of a consultation and no decisions have been made at this stage".

Unlike the parents, the school counts structured play and social time as learning periods.

Darren Casey, from Braintree, said "there's a lot of people who are hurt and upset with the one place that is safe for their children".

His son James, 13, is non-verbal and has autism and is one of 150 pupils at the school.

"Everything's been going great since he got there. The staff are fantastic, he comes home happy... and it's really helped his confidence and helped him grow," he said.

Having looked at his son's proposed timetable from September, he added: "It works out about 20% of his actual lessons are being cut.

"The school have identified they haven't got enough time to do their job.

"The only thing that prevents the LSAs (learning support assistants) from doing their job properly is time - time costs money, therefore it is about budget."

The school denied budget was an issue and said the changes meant "class-based teams will have some more time to plan, prepare lessons, resources and the learning environment together".

Clair McKenzie, from Harlow, said it had been nothing but "stress and pressure" since she heard about the proposals.

She had to fight to get a place at a suitable school for her son Ellis, six, who was born deaf, has autism, ADHD and is non-verbal.

His school hours are currently 09:00 to 15:15 BST, while her older son Dawson, nine, attends from 08:50 to 15:15.

The school has proposed staggered drop-off times for pupils between 09:10 and 09:25, and for the school day to end between 14:50 and 15:00.

Benefits include "a later morning start for pupils in transport and our pupils will be back home earlier in the afternoon", it said.

"It's not helping the community and it's not fair that they've already got a backward start in life, and it's not fair on the parents," said Ms McKenzie.

Daniel Payne, from Ongar, said he had "nothing but praise for the school, the teachers, the teaching assistants, they do an amazing job", but raised similar concerns.

His 11-year-old son Tommy is severely autistic and has global development delay, which means he has a mental age of about three.

"For Tom and all of our children at Harlow Fields they need the utmost education, more so access to occupational therapy, physical therapy, reflexology, speech therapy," he said.

"The school says it's not going to impact their academic learning - well, it does because they've reduced it and that can only mean it's going to reduce the amount of specialist care and attention that Tom needs."

Harlow Fields School and College said: "The changes are not being proposed due to budget constraints or in the interests of cutting costs for the school.

"The school is welcoming parent and carers' views on the proposals as part of a consultation and no decisions have been made at this stage."

A spokesperson for Essex County Council said it was aware of proposals and encouraged parents "to feedback their views as part of this process".

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