Anger over merger plans for Newport schools (From South Wales Argus)

people need to embrace change, and not always think it is a bad move. if we can save money then lets get on with it.kids adapt to a lot worse things than this.

So long as it change for the BETTER. Newport's ASD support is abysmal and non-extant,and neither do they support ASD teens or adults. These kids are being shunted from isolation in mainstream classrooms to special needs ones that have no experience and to annex's that re-isolate these kids again and with no pro support yet again.

Anyone who knows anything about ASD issues is aware of permanency and routine as being vital to their well being, moving them on very 5 minutes to wrong areas is not good practice and can seriously affect their progress. It is to save MONEY not to enhance ASD futures in education. Most should not even BE in Newport at all but in specialised Autistic schools.

The myth and drive about 'inclusion' is damaging, many of these children cannot integrate at all, it is the nature of the beast many don't relate to mainstream at all nor can. Brynglas didn't always get it right either and it was a special need annex approach as averse to an ASD based approach.

By far the best area was Gaer, they didn't have the specialisation but were ultra supportive and willing to learn, Special needs is too global an approach and too many get dumped in these classes to avoid the LEA paying for proper support designed to meet their need. It is said 75% do not get needs met in Newport.

As parents, we have a duty to protect the welfare and education of our children.
In the case of the Gaer, the proposed plan has NO benefit to any of the 400 local children, teachers & residents it will impact on. There is also the risk that some teachers MAY lose their jobs which would mean less teachers teaching our children. Tell me how this type of change is good?

The council have also proposed to close Hillside (a care home in the Gaer for 24 elderly residents) Some of these PEOPLE are in their 90's and are being told the care they currently receive will be removed and they will have to move.

This care home is at the back of the infant school which the council plan to use as an ASD unit for up to 50 children. Far be it for me to suggest there is a link but why would the council want to close down one of the best care homes in newport that offer a level of care that no other care home in the area does? At its last inspection it received a glowing report too!

Why can't the council be clear and transparent with its plans? Why won't they consider an alternative site and leave the Gaer schools alone? There are many empty buildings in newport!
You only have to take a walk through the town centre to see its turning into a ghost town.

embrace change? or challenge it?
why should we make our children & elderly suffer when the local council are making the wrong decisions.

I can fully understand parents being angry with the above proposal of the schools being merged. NOT ONCE have the children of Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon been mentioned.

The children who attend the school have only two classrooms within another school. The intake for Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon is getting higher every year, but they have limited space and resources. The staff at Bro Teyrnon are a few of the best I have come across with a wonderful acting head, but there is only so much they can achieve with such limited space.

Bro Teyrnon has to be moved from Maindee school soon and the children need somewhere to go. Why should these children lose out simply because their parents have chosen a welsh education. If there is enough space in either school for them to be merged without it affecting a Childs education then I can’t see how pupils will be losing out.

The children of Bro Teyrnon are in need of extra space and resources. According to the school admissions, all other Welsh schools are full so maybe this is the councils fault for not making existing schools big enough.

Maria Farrelly wrote:
As parents, we have a duty to protect the welfare and education of our children.
In the case of the Gaer, the proposed plan has NO benefit to any of the 400 local children, teachers & residents it will impact on. There is also the risk that some teachers MAY lose their jobs which would mean less teachers teaching our children. Tell me how this type of change is good?

The council have also proposed to close Hillside (a care home in the Gaer for 24 elderly residents) Some of these PEOPLE are in their 90's and are being told the care they currently receive will be removed and they will have to move.

This care home is at the back of the infant school which the council plan to use as an ASD unit for up to 50 children. Far be it for me to suggest there is a link but why would the council want to close down one of the best care homes in newport that offer a level of care that no other care home in the area does? At its last inspection it received a glowing report too!

Why can't the council be clear and transparent with its plans? Why won't they consider an alternative site and leave the Gaer schools alone? There are many empty buildings in newport!
You only have to take a walk through the town centre to see its turning into a ghost town.

embrace change? or challenge it?
why should we make our children & elderly suffer when the local council are making the wrong decisions.

"There are many empty buildings in newport!
You only have to take a walk through the town centre to see its turning into a ghost town." (sic).

The Pill Millenium Centre is desparately looking for a new user.

With regard to the former use of the Pill Millenium Centre, I could never understand why Newport Council had two very similar types of establishment literally only yards from each other. There was the Pill Millenium Centre and the Old Pill Library premises, both on the face of it potentially able to provide the same sorts of facilities. Is the Old Pill Library currently functioning this way? I do not know. I have not been down there recently.

As A mother of a son with ASD, I think that at long last ASD parents are getting what they need ( if all gose to plan), as we to have the right to protect the welfare and education of our children.
I think you have to be in our shoes to understand the pain of watching our ASD children being moved from school to schooll and unit to unit. Despite It being understood that Chldren with ASD hate change. Also many ASD childern have a long way to go to school due to lack of places.
I think that Newport has so many schools for children, But no special ASD school.
I also belive that if some parents had more experience in ASD children, the fact that a few lost rooms in their childrens schools would not be a problem.
I am wishing that this ASD school helps many children for years to come.

Crindau school is awful! my daughter went there about 5 years ago, she was being bullied and the school did nothing because they were frightened of the mother!, i pulled her out and she went to Clytha school, a much better school, i used to go to brynglas when i was young, lots of lovely playing fields!

R.P55555 wrote:
As A mother of a son with ASD, I think that at long last ASD parents are getting what they need ( if all gose to plan), as we to have the right to protect the welfare and education of our children.
I think you have to be in our shoes to understand the pain of watching our ASD children being moved from school to schooll and unit to unit. Despite It being understood that Chldren with ASD hate change. Also many ASD childern have a long way to go to school due to lack of places.
I think that Newport has so many schools for children, But no special ASD school.
I also belive that if some parents had more experience in ASD children, the fact that a few lost rooms in their childrens schools would not be a problem.
I am wishing that this ASD school helps many children for years to come.

What infuriates me most is that the council our using our children as pawns here. The children's welfare & education are not at the forefront of these plans. Moving them around, Squeezing them like sardines into schools, taking away vital facilities and thinking it will not impact on their education. IT WILL! its unsettling, disruptive and they stand to lose a lot more than 'a few lost classrooms'.

Every child is important and deserves a good education BUT at the sacrifice of another child's education? Morally, its wrong and the council should be doing everything they can to avoid that situation but they are not considering alternatives. Plus, with the council also wanting to close Hillside care home, 24 elderly residents look set to lose their home too! We as parents believe it's highly likely that Hillside will be used as a respite centre for the ASD unit as its right next to the site.

What about all those elderly people? what about the care they need & deserve? they are being told its being removed. Imagine having worked all your life, paid your taxes and now need help and being told your not getting it anymore and plus, your home is being taken off you too!

Its not right!

It is not my place to suggest alternative sites for an ASD unit, its the councils but why are they not?

In this article it says "current pupils will be disrupted by a possible school name-change" is that a joke?

The SWA are blowing things all out of proportion for a change, thank god they don't do this with everything.

R.P55555 wrote:
As A mother of a son with ASD, I think that at long last ASD parents are getting what they need ( if all gose to plan), as we to have the right to protect the welfare and education of our children.
I think you have to be in our shoes to understand the pain of watching our ASD children being moved from school to schooll and unit to unit. Despite It being understood that Chldren with ASD hate change. Also many ASD childern have a long way to go to school due to lack of places.
I think that Newport has so many schools for children, But no special ASD school.
I also belive that if some parents had more experience in ASD children, the fact that a few lost rooms in their childrens schools would not be a problem.
I am wishing that this ASD school helps many children for years to come.

As also a parent of a child with ASD who attended Brynglas at one point, I didn't feel it met the need. I didn't doubt people were really trying, I did doubt seriously they had the qualifications needed. At age 11 when they wanted to send the child to Dyffryn we put the foot right down and said no. He had already been to 6 schools, and, only one had been in an area where they knew about autism. You need specialisations and NOT Integrated classrooms since with the best will in the world I don't think they work on a practical level,and only feeds the 'immersion' view that is just some ploy to save money really. My child is OUT of Gwent altogether and in special school his class is SIX pupils only and he gets dedicated support, contrast that with Newport's LEA of view of anything goes..... if it is cheap and feeds the integration is all approach that doesn't work with most autistics. It's PC speak with no knowledge of Autism.

R.P55555 wrote:
As A mother of a son with ASD, I think that at long last ASD parents are getting what they need ( if all gose to plan), as we to have the right to protect the welfare and education of our children.
I think you have to be in our shoes to understand the pain of watching our ASD children being moved from school to schooll and unit to unit. Despite It being understood that Chldren with ASD hate change. Also many ASD childern have a long way to go to school due to lack of places.
I think that Newport has so many schools for children, But no special ASD school.
I also belive that if some parents had more experience in ASD children, the fact that a few lost rooms in their childrens schools would not be a problem.
I am wishing that this ASD school helps many children for years to come.

As also a parent of a child with ASD who attended Brynglas at one point, I didn't feel it met the need. I didn't doubt people were really trying, I did doubt seriously they had the qualifications needed. At age 11 when they wanted to send the child to Dyffryn we put the foot right down and said no. He had already been to 6 schools, and, only one had been in an area where they knew about autism. You need specialisations and NOT Integrated classrooms since with the best will in the world I don't think they work on a practical level,and only feeds the 'immersion' view that is just some ploy to save money really. My child is OUT of Gwent altogether and in special school his class is SIX pupils only and he gets dedicated support, contrast that with Newport's LEA of view of anything goes..... if it is cheap and feeds the integration is all approach that doesn't work with most autistics. It's PC speak with no knowledge of Autism.

Mervyn James wrote:

R.P55555 wrote:
As A mother of a son with ASD, I think that at long last ASD parents are getting what they need ( if all gose to plan), as we to have the right to protect the welfare and education of our children.
I think you have to be in our shoes to understand the pain of watching our ASD children being moved from school to schooll and unit to unit. Despite It being understood that Chldren with ASD hate change. Also many ASD childern have a long way to go to school due to lack of places.
I think that Newport has so many schools for children, But no special ASD school.
I also belive that if some parents had more experience in ASD children, the fact that a few lost rooms in their childrens schools would not be a problem.
I am wishing that this ASD school helps many children for years to come.

As also a parent of a child with ASD who attended Brynglas at one point, I didn't feel it met the need. I didn't doubt people were really trying, I did doubt seriously they had the qualifications needed. At age 11 when they wanted to send the child to Dyffryn we put the foot right down and said no. He had already been to 6 schools, and, only one had been in an area where they knew about autism. You need specialisations and NOT Integrated classrooms since with the best will in the world I don't think they work on a practical level,and only feeds the 'immersion' view that is just some ploy to save money really. My child is OUT of Gwent altogether and in special school his class is SIX pupils only and he gets dedicated support, contrast that with Newport's LEA of view of anything goes..... if it is cheap and feeds the integration is all approach that doesn't work with most autistics. It's PC speak with no knowledge of Autism.

Again, the council are NOT putting the welfare and educational needs of ALL our children at the forefront of these proposals. We as Parents are not being listened to and in some cases we are being patronised (as was the case at the Gaer Parents consultation meeting where we were asked by the council if we knew what amalgamation meant!) It was infuriating!
Also, when voicing our concerns at that meeting, one member of the council pulled out her mobile phone and started texting her husband about her chicken dinner! (you can read the minutes of the meeting here: http://www.newport.g
ov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?
fuseaction=councildo
cs.docslist&doctype=
Minutes Consultation meeting- Gaer Parents.

areyour4real wrote:
In this article it says "current pupils will be disrupted by a possible school name-change" is that a joke?

The SWA are blowing things all out of proportion for a change, thank god they don't do this with everything.

I thought the same. A change of name and school uniform is rather unimportant when you consider the children of Brynglas, Bro Teyrnon and the ASD unit and the upheaval of moving schools. Yet all we read in the Argus is about how Crindau and the Gaer.

Mwy Eira wrote:

areyour4real wrote:
In this article it says "current pupils will be disrupted by a possible school name-change" is that a joke?

The SWA are blowing things all out of proportion for a change, thank god they don't do this with everything.

I thought the same. A change of name and school uniform is rather unimportant when you consider the children of Brynglas, Bro Teyrnon and the ASD unit and the upheaval of moving schools. Yet all we read in the Argus is about how Crindau and the Gaer.

You are most wrong. There was a full page article in the Argus last Saturday regarding the ASD unit.

The reason you are reading about the Gaer is because we as parents are very concerned about the negative impact this proposed plan will have on 400+ local children and the community. We have a voice and we are using it.

We do not believe the council have our childrens welfare and education at the forefront of these proposals and if you feel the same, I suggest you start shouting about it very loudly. Because once the consultation period ends on each school, your concerns will go unheard.

The Argus is not being biased, it is raising awareness and responding to the concerns of parents and members on the local community, something the council is not!

The Gaer children will lose over half of their site, there is no room for all the children to fit into the Junior school. The council will not tell us HOW our children will be housed, there may be possible redundancies for our teachers and local residents will face huge traffic problems (at the Junior site). Plus many more reasons too.

At the back of the infant school is Hillside care home. the council have announced plans to close it down making 24 elderly residents homeless and without the specialist care they so desperately need.

So, in a nutshell, 2 vulnerable groups in our community (our children & our elderly) are being compromised and we have a duty as part of the community to protect them all.

All I can say is if any parent is concerned about the plans the council have for our schools and is worried that the welfare and education of their child is not being considered they MUST put it in writing to the head of education NOW.

Deadlines are looming.

http://www.newport.g
ov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?
fuseaction=schools.r
eorganisation&conten
tid=CONT635583

ianzemma wrote:
Crindau school is awful! my daughter went there about 5 years ago, she was being bullied and the school did nothing because they were frightened of the mother!, i pulled her out and she went to Clytha school, a much better school, i used to go to brynglas when i was young, lots of lovely playing fields!

Can I just say crindau is not awful and 5yrs ago is a very long time! It is a school with excellent reports from Estyn my two children attend the school and I find it very disturbing that you can say the school is awful yet you don't have children attending to date.

As a parent of a child who has ASD I strongly support the council in their proposal to open a school to cater for the complex needs of children who suffer with this condition.

At present there are no provisions locally that are able to offer the support required and as a result many of these children are placed out of county which results in them having to suffer long journey times on a daily basis, which is not only distressing for the child but also concerning for the parent.

Although I do appreciate the concerns and opinions expressed by those parents who have children that attend the Gaer school, I do feel that these children do have a suitable alternative whereas there is nothing in Newport for children with ASD and these special children need and deserve the same opportunities in their hometown.