Aug 8 2010
Epinay – Outstanding Special School to be Closed
South Tyneside Council are proposing to close a special school – Epinay School – that has recently been assessed as outstanding by Oftsted and has national and international significance.
To the untrained eye this may seem like utter madness. To be honest, to the trained eye it is utter madness as well!
Why is it being closed? Because councillors want it to be closed. Officers had previously put an acceptable proposal forward to Cabinet which proposed the development of Epinay, a very successful Business and Enterprise special school in Jarrow. Building on success as part of a wider review of special education in the area. Even the scrutiny committee supported the proposal. At the eleventh hour Cabinet changed the proposal to one which involved the school closing down! Why?
Is the closure a reaction to the fact that the school had recently received Co-operative Trust status which weakened the hold that the council had on the school? Or have the unions “nobbled” councillors about the potential loss of jobs as part of the review?
Epinay is very successful as previously mentioned. It is one of the top special schools in the country. It has no problem with surplus places unlike some its neighbouring special schools. It has excellent attainment levels. It provides services to the local community which are welcomed. Parents and pupils alike hold the school in high regard. It is a beacon for other special schools as any normal person will see. Surely, this is the definition of a successful school. And this has been achieved by a very hard-working team of teachers and staff over a number of years.
And, as such, it should be supported and expanded under current government policy not threatened with closure for petty, parochial, political reasons. Do South Tyneside Council realise they have a major asset here and not a liability? All of this hard work and achievement is to be obliterated under the current proposals.
It is a good job that there is a right of appeal to The Schools Adjudicator who can right the wrong that South Tyneside Council has already done to this very special school.
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