This is not a story that directly impacts me (no kids) so I do not have a dog in the fight as it were, but this speaks to a wider and worrying issue of mismanagement by the local authority. A local authority with many of the same people at the helm when NCC went bust.
I worked indirectly for NCC in 2013 when they set up Olympus Care Services as a limited company to circumvent oversight and spending for social care services and we can see how well that ended.
The budgets are tight and there is not a lot of wiggle room to make improvements, but the current status quo won't do with so much wastage and poor leadership failing to steer the ship
I think we all need to be mindful of this next month when local elections come about and actually vote in people who will take more control and make better decisions to avoid hitting headlines like this.
Unfortunately the public seem to be unwilling to vote these people off the councils.
One can only hope that they feel sufficiently embarrassed to resign but as Tories they are determined to cling on to power unless a seat in the House of Lords beckons.
This is reporting on nothing less than human rights abuses of some of our most vulnerable children and their parents. This is 21st century Tory Britain ffs! 😡😡😡
Whilst not a resident of North Northant’s, I take a keen interest in all of our county. It seems to me that both authorities are in a furious, catastrophic race to the bottom. I fear it will be a dead heat.
Many of the same councillors who failed Northamptonshire County Council are again failing the two unitary authorities. Most of the issues could have been prevented, warnings have been signalled previously.
As a parent of a non-verbal 3 year old SEND child. I can confirm that the early years intervention is also terrible. An initial 8 month wait to see a speech and language therapist for a one hour session, then a wait of another 6 months where we'll be offered a group zoom call with other parents. Nursery has been as helpful as they can in offering SEND provision, but ultimately the staff are not trained as well as they could be. Furthermore, without any official diagnosis or thorough assessment or understanding of my child's needs they, and us as parents, are unable to offer the support that he needs, because we don't know what those needs are. I'm very worried about his future, and this excellent report worries me even more. Do you have the contact details for Julie Heron's action group, as I'd like to attend the meeting.
Why is this a surprise? Ofsted has been (rightly) reporting the multiplicity of failings at the Cambian network of schools in the area for kids with autism for years; I know this because I myself turned down a job at Potterspury Lodge. I was concerned by the staff abusing children in their care; a custody-like residential home with oversights every which way (catalogued by Ofsted since 2016 or so); and a staff turnover every 2-3 months. Sound familiar?
Is anyone asking what the root cause in this upsurge in required provision ? I'm not getting into that one.
I do know that 25 years ago if the occasional child was sent to the facility for repeated disruptive behaviour, stemming from whatever personal problems he brought to school, when the child came back into school then they would cause further disruption to other childrens' education, having learnt new techniques from his peers at the facility.
As a society we should be ashamed but there were never any votes in saying “ we must do more for children with special needs or those in council care.”
This is not a story that directly impacts me (no kids) so I do not have a dog in the fight as it were, but this speaks to a wider and worrying issue of mismanagement by the local authority. A local authority with many of the same people at the helm when NCC went bust.
I worked indirectly for NCC in 2013 when they set up Olympus Care Services as a limited company to circumvent oversight and spending for social care services and we can see how well that ended.
The budgets are tight and there is not a lot of wiggle room to make improvements, but the current status quo won't do with so much wastage and poor leadership failing to steer the ship
I think we all need to be mindful of this next month when local elections come about and actually vote in people who will take more control and make better decisions to avoid hitting headlines like this.
Unfortunately the public seem to be unwilling to vote these people off the councils.
One can only hope that they feel sufficiently embarrassed to resign but as Tories they are determined to cling on to power unless a seat in the House of Lords beckons.
An excellent piece of investigative journalism. 👍
This is reporting on nothing less than human rights abuses of some of our most vulnerable children and their parents. This is 21st century Tory Britain ffs! 😡😡😡
Whilst not a resident of North Northant’s, I take a keen interest in all of our county. It seems to me that both authorities are in a furious, catastrophic race to the bottom. I fear it will be a dead heat.
Many of the same councillors who failed Northamptonshire County Council are again failing the two unitary authorities. Most of the issues could have been prevented, warnings have been signalled previously.
As a parent of a non-verbal 3 year old SEND child. I can confirm that the early years intervention is also terrible. An initial 8 month wait to see a speech and language therapist for a one hour session, then a wait of another 6 months where we'll be offered a group zoom call with other parents. Nursery has been as helpful as they can in offering SEND provision, but ultimately the staff are not trained as well as they could be. Furthermore, without any official diagnosis or thorough assessment or understanding of my child's needs they, and us as parents, are unable to offer the support that he needs, because we don't know what those needs are. I'm very worried about his future, and this excellent report worries me even more. Do you have the contact details for Julie Heron's action group, as I'd like to attend the meeting.
Why is this a surprise? Ofsted has been (rightly) reporting the multiplicity of failings at the Cambian network of schools in the area for kids with autism for years; I know this because I myself turned down a job at Potterspury Lodge. I was concerned by the staff abusing children in their care; a custody-like residential home with oversights every which way (catalogued by Ofsted since 2016 or so); and a staff turnover every 2-3 months. Sound familiar?
The same stats apply to the local prison service.
Is anyone asking what the root cause in this upsurge in required provision ? I'm not getting into that one.
I do know that 25 years ago if the occasional child was sent to the facility for repeated disruptive behaviour, stemming from whatever personal problems he brought to school, when the child came back into school then they would cause further disruption to other childrens' education, having learnt new techniques from his peers at the facility.
As a society we should be ashamed but there were never any votes in saying “ we must do more for children with special needs or those in council care.”