Martin tells Belmont: special schools shouldn't be political football (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Martin tells Belmont: special schools shouldn't be political football

January 3, 2007 5:20 PM

Speaking to an audience of teachers, parents and pupils at Belmont School, Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood promised the school wouldn't be a 'political football' any longer. He was speaking at an event to mark Belmont's achievement of 'specialist status' in Special Educational Needs teaching. This requires the school to share its expertise with mainstream schools and help them to improve their special needs teaching too.

Some local special schools were controversially threatened with closure as part of a plan to integrate more special needs pupils into mainstream schooling. But the new scheme should forge more links between the schools without closures. Martin told the gathering: "you have been on a rollercoaster but, as far as I'm concerned, the time has come for the politicians to step back and let you plan for the future. "