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Education must begin consulting local autism representatives “as soon as possible” in order to fill gaps in the current provision and maximise the benefits of having larger autism bases on both of the new secondary school sites.
Guernsey Branch Officer for the National Autistic Society, Catherine Hall, made the remarks in response to comments made in the States by Education President Matt Fallaize.
Responding to questions at last month's States meeting from Deputy John Gollop about how pupils with autism and communication needs would be integrated into the two 11-18 secondary schools, Deputy Fallaize said: “One advantage among many of rationalising the number of mainstream secondary school sites is that it becomes financially viable to provide well-resourced communication and autism bases on all secondary sites.
“The committee’s plans include communication and autism bases at both of the 11-18 colleges. The combined area of the bases will be substantially larger than the single base proposed for La Mare De Carteret in 2016.
“They will allow all students with communication and autism needs to transfer from their primary schools with their peers and will avoid them having to travel further to school then other students.”
Ms Hall said she was “certainly pleased that it is on Education’s radar, but disappointed that consultation has yet to take place”.
“We have been told that further consultation should take place, but we are still waiting for that to start. [Deputy Fallaize] made some good points in terms of economies of scale, but it is a wider issue than just having autism bases.
“Autism bases are very important but they are one of many solutions that are needed, so we want there to be consultation about the gaps in the provision and how they can be filled.”
Deputy Fallaize said it would be “pointless” to dedicate significant space for autism bases without adequately resourcing them.
“The relevant professional staff will determine how the bases operate in practice and we will consult with stakeholders including third sector representative bodies,” he told the States.
Ms Hall said it was vital that such engagement takes place and cited the UN Convention, which states that people with disabilities, including children, must be closely consulted with and actively involved in decision-making processes that affect them through their representative organisations.
“It is encouraging to know that the space they are proposing to set aside is larger than is currently available or what was proposed in the [former committee’s plans] for a single base at La Mare De Carteret,” she said.
“But it is very important now that children with autism and their representatives are consulted.
“Children with autism can be very intellectually and academically able, but most of them do have additional needs in order to cope in mainstream schools.”
At present, two of the four mainstream secondary schools – St Sampson’s and La Mare De Carteret – have autism and communication bases, while there is also one at Amherst Primary.
Pictured top: St Sampson's High and Les Beaucamps, the two high school sites that are proposed to house the two 11-18 colleges.
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