Demand the rights of our children to an education!

Hannah is a little girl with a severe speech impairment and has been attending a nursery since January 2012 in a school which best meets her needs and gives her the support and help which will enable her to grow, develop, and learn.  All professionals who have met her agree that she needs this place to give her the opportunity to access the national curriculum and meet her potential, which without it she will not develop even basic skills, her confidence and ability to communicate and function in normal society will be severally impaired and she is at a very high risk of selected mutism.

Sadly after an appeal hearing with the local council her appeal has been declined by Walsall council due to the policy of having one class teacher per 30 students, and to admit Hannah into the school would mean that they would go over number.  Teaching assitants do not count, despite them being valueable to the class room learning environment.  

Hannah has a statement in progress which is in its final stages of being completed, this statement will give her a teaching assistant, however until this is complete th admission department will not allow her to attend, despite the local authority agreeing to release money to pay for a full time teaching assistant to support Hannah in this period.  This would mean that Hannah would have to attend another school which is not at all best fit for her needs, she would have to move into this school until this statement is ready, this time however short can have irreversable effects on her socially, emotionally as well as educationally, also there is a risk that by moving her when she has the statement may mean that she may not be able to cope again to move and the effects may not be easierly reversed. 

Please sign this petition to allow Hannah and children like her in this position the opportunity to an education that best fits her needs and stand up for the valued work of Teaching assistants and get them recognised as staff who make a difference to the children and teacher they work alongside. 

All children have a right to an education, lets make the ALL in this statement true!