A DERRY father has said parents of children with special educational needs feel “forgotten about”.
David Topping’s son has autism.
He says despite guidance being published on how schools will reopen, he does not know how or when his son will return to education.
“We still don’t know what is happening,” he told BBC Radio Foyle.
“We don’t know what form our child’s education is going to take.
“Obviously it is not going to be as it was.”
Before the pandemic David’s son was receiving about 20 hours each week of specialised one-to-one learning.
He said guidance published last week by the Department of Education made little reference to special needs pupils.
Guidance issued last Friday suggests:
There will be an element of part-time learning due to limitations – such as small classrooms – in some schools
Primary school pupils should be in school for at least two days a week
Post-primary schools might be able to return to full-time education if they implement a so-called bubble model
Post-primary schools that can’t do that should have pupils in school at least half the time
Secondary schools are urged to consider a new model whereby the teacher would move between classes, not the children.
Children will be prevented from bringing items such as bags into the school setting and taking items out of school at the end of day.
Pupils will be asked to wash their hands on arrival at schools and at regular intervals throughout the day.
Consideration to a “no bell” strategy to allow flexibility on class start/finish times and avoid “the intensity of (pupil) flow”
In a statement the Department for Education said it is developing additional guidance specific for special schools.
The department says it is “working collaboratively with special school principals and key stakeholders to develop this, and hope to publish it before the end of this month”.
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