Eye On Education: Special Lowerhouses unit under threat of closure

FEARS are growing that a unit for young children with special needs may close at a Huddersfield school.

The unit at Lowerhouses CE Junior, Infant and Early Years School provides young children with the stepping stones which they need to progress into mainstream education.

But it is now under threat as part of wide-ranging proposals and changes to specialist education provision for disabled children and those children with special educational needs across Kirklees.

A four-week consultation period has started on special provisions across the authority which will be discussed in March by Kirklees Council’s Cabinet.

The 30-year-old unit is for children with speech and developmental delay and has places for 12 children.

It provides support with communication and social skills and general development for nursery age children who may have a recognised condition such as Down’s syndrome or autistic spectrum disorder. All pupils have a statement of educational needs.

Three-quarters of children who attend successfully go on to reception classes in mainstream schools.

The unit, which is fully integrated into the Early Years Unit at the school, was recently judged as outstanding by Ofsted inspectors.

The provision is staffed by inspiring teacher Stan White, a former London insolvency lawyer who trained as a teacher in 1999 and has a wealth of experience teaching children with special needs.

His son, Maxwell Lockwood, now 16, has Downs syndrome.

Also part of the team is nursery nurse Sarah Dyson.