ISSUE: The future of special needs Chartfield School

The Chair of Governors updates Putney on the current situation at Chartfield School.

Wandsworth have again put off the decision over the future of Chartfield special needs school in Putney now until January 2004. It is an excellent school that bridges the gap between mainstream and special needs.

The school is designated as a delicate school and the pupils are those who may have specific learning needs such as dyslexia, language disorders, Aspergers Syndrome, medical needs such as epilepsy or may simply need a smaller learning environment for this stage in their education.

Wandsworth are planning to close the school despite it being popular, successful and highly praised by OFSTED. They are planning on moving a lot of the children into mainstream even though 92% of the parents don't want it for their children and the children simply won't cope. Most have been bullied in mainstream and are with us now because the effect this has had on them.

The rest they are intending on placing into an already cramped Garratt Park special needs school for children with behavioural problems and moderate learning difficulties. In order to fit in the projected 40 pupils they want to build on the already too small playground. Delicate children and those with behavioural problems don't mix. There is also the fact that most of our children have mainstream IQ's and Chartfield has an excellent record on GCSE achievement.

The parents formed the Chartfield Parents Action Group when the proposals were first anounced back in Oct 2002. We now have a website which shows all the press coverage received and outlines more fully the plans for the school and the school and parents' objections. www.handsoffchartfield.co.uk

Howard Battersby
Chair of Governors

22nd October 2003

Tony Colman speaks out on Chartfield School 15.10.03

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