The Parks: Plans to close SEND nursery school to move forward
Rutland County Council's been met with stiff opposition over plans to close The Parks Special Nursery School
Rutland County Council (RCC) will meet today (11th January) to discuss the outcome of a public consultation on the future of The Parks Special Nursery School, after plans to close it were met with strong opposition.
It's after the final report by Maureen Morris, brought in as an independent reviewer to oversee the consultation process, supported the proposal to close the school.
READ MORE: "Horrified" parents' petition to 'save' The Parks School reaches 1,400 signatures
READ MORE: Protestors gather to save special needs school in Oakham
Concerns about The Parks were first brought to the Council's attention after a group of independent SEND professionals found there were issues with keeping provision going.
Places at the Parks cost substantially more than SEND support in mainstream settings and the nursery has very small pupil cohorts, making it increasingly unviable, RCC say.
RCC say there are no children accessing a special nursery place this academic year and the Council is not aware of any children of nursery age needing specialist nursery provision from September 2024.
Plans to close move forward
Councillor Tim Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said:
“We know many people feel incredibly strongly about The Parks and don’t want it to close. It has provided fantastic care and support to children with additional needs and it’s clear from the consultation that families who have accessed the provision over many years have had an overwhelmingly positive experience."
"During this same period, SEND support in mainstream schools and nurseries has increased substantially. With demand for special nursery places falling, it’s recommended that The Parks should close and funding be used to further increase the SEND support available in mainstream settings across the County, including expansion of the Designated Specialist Provision at Oakham C of E.”
Independent reviewer, Maureen Morris, said:
“Closing any much loved and valued provision was always going to be emotive. However, on reading the responses, the large majority were talking about the experience of pupils who went to The Parks Special Nursery School some years ago.
"There were only a very few who had current experience of The Parks as it is now, and I feel more weight should be given to the responses of these people. It is my understanding that families of children who may have been candidates for The Parks, as with all Rutland resident children who are identified as potentially requiring additional support, are currently being supported by officers of Rutland County Council while going through the EHCP (Education Health and Care Plan) process or whose children have been recently diagnosed, and this will continue even after a decision regarding the future of The Parks is made.
"This is a statutory process that all Councils must adhere to - the recent Local Area Ofsted identifies that this is a successful approach in Rutland. I looked carefully through the responses and found nothing to indicate that the consultation was not done in a lawful way or that there were any innovative solutions given or suggested to ensure that the situation at The Parks could be changed.”
Opposition concern has "fallen upon deaf ears"
The proposal to close The Parks has been met with strong opposition by members of Save The Parks Special School.
In a statement, the group said: “The Save the Parks School group would like to thank Rutland County Council for listening to us at the consultation meeting and employing Maureen Morris to independently oversee the consultation and also to thank Maureen for her time.
"We are disappointed, however, by the short-sightedness shown in her report. There appears to have been no analysis of the data received, rather, just a summary. The whole consultation process appears to have been poorly thought out and we are unhappy with the editing and publication of the emails received through the Parks Proposal email address.
"The public were assured that the emails would be anonymised, not edited and this was done without seeking permission from the authors.
"Some of the emails have been RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rated incorrectly, leading us to question whether they were anonymised before Maureen received them and the local authority have not acted upon Maureen’s recommendation that they contact the authors of the emails that were RAG rated as red.
"...We have not had any opportunity to present our petition to the council as yet, but are hoping to do so when the Scrutiny Committee meet.
"The overwhelming majority of the emails received are against the closure of the Parks but this seems to have fallen upon deaf ears, as the report recommends RCC go ahead with their proposal.
"We would also like to know if Rutland Parent Carer Voice consulted with parents and carers and how that contributed to the consultation.”
Cabinet is to consider the outcome of a public consultation on the future of The Parks Special Nursery School in Oakham from 10am on Thursday 11th January.