Special needs school fights plan

4.23.43pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 9th Mar 2007

Parents and governors are fighting proposed changes to Kent's only special needs school for girls. Kent County Council (KCC) wants Broomhill Bank School, near Tunbridge Wells, to take boys and children with more challenging needs such as autism.

More than 200 protesters are expected at a public meeting about the plans, which would also end boarding and close a unit for girls aged 16 to 19. KCC said the Broomhill plans were part of a special needs review across Kent. The most controversial proposal is closure of the 16+ unit, which teaches skill such as cookery and horticulture.

Head teacher Phil Barnet said the girls were not always ready to leave school at 16. "Most of them require further education, further independence training and social skills and community awareness training," he said. "That support is very much valued by the girls and their parents."

Lady Astor, whose daughter Claudia, 14, is a pupil, said: "These are girls who take longer to learn, so they need more time in school, not less."

The school currently has places for 92 pupils, 66 of them boarders. Reorganisation would mean the school has 56 on-site and 24 "outreach" places. KCC said Broomhill was the last special school to go through the re-designation process.

"The outcome will have an impact on other local special schools," it said. "The proposal includes a guarantee of residential provision for existing boarding students already in post-16 education."

Council officers will be at Wednesday's public meeting and the proposal will be considered by the School Organisation Advisory Board on 16 May.