Call for ‘damaging’ special needs cuts to be reversed

THE principal of a local primary school has asked politicians to return to Stormont and reverse education cuts that will damage special needs provision across the North.

Peter Torney, of St Patrick’s Primary School in Newtownstewart, said that although he welcomed an announcement last week not to cut vital early funding, he has said that the announcement to withdraw £11million from the Special Educational Needs (SEN) budget was very “frustrating.”

Mr Torney told the UH, “I welcome the reversals to the education cuts announced at the end of March, especially those made to the Pathways programme and other pre-school provisions. I have previously spoken about their value in preparing preschool children for mainstream
primary education.

“I am also delighted to see the restoration of the extended school programme given to socially deprived schools. In our case this money was vital in funding breakfast clubs, subsidising the provision of milk and fruit for children and providing afterschool clubs.”

He added, “However, this is then tempered by the news that £11m has been cut from the SEN budget. This comes on top of the ending of the Engage Programme which allowed schools to provide one-to-one educational support or at least small group support to children in most need.

“I appreciate the difficult financial situation faced by DENI and EA but like many people, I am completely frustrated by the lack of government in Stormont. Despite some politicians defending their position by saying that the restoration of the Stormont executive would not change things, I would like to see local politicians in place to address the immense challenges faced by principals and teachers daily.”