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Crumbling, overcrowded, mouldy, understaffed.

The shocking impact of funding challenges on Birmingham's special schools is laid bare today in a dossier of despair from head teachers.

The loss of teachers and support staff, crowded classes and axed specialist services are putting the city's reputation for 'outstanding' special school provision at risk, according to a damning catalogue of concerns.

Some heads are even contemplating schools closing in the forseeable future on safety grounds unless intensive emergency help is given quickly to rescue the ailing sector, which educates and looks after 4,300 of the city's children.

"We could be bankrupt within three years, leaving hundreds of kids with nowhere to go. That's how serious this is," said Selly Oak Trust School head Chris Field.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Two other heads have voiced fears there will soon be too few staff to safely evacuate disabled pupils in an emergency.

Another says he's retiring early because it is 'too painful' to oversee the decline of the exceptional school he's built up.

The executive head of two specials schools added: "We have certainly been in the position of having to make hard decisions based entirely on financial consideration, rather than educational excellence - this is very troubling."

The group of heads are now calling on the new Prime Minister to make it one of his first priorities to visit and see for himself the devastating impact of cuts and pressures on these schools.

They also plan to deliver their dossier in person to 10 Downing Street as part of a delegation led by Erdington MP Jack Dromey (Lab).

Mr Dromey said: "What our head teachers do battling adversity is nothing short of inspirational.

"But the growing consequences of what is happening in schools to give the kids the start they deserve in life, and support their parents, is ever more serious.

"Our schools are stretched to the limit, forced to cut back on the curriculum and opportunities for students, and losing jobs.

"There are 27 special schools in Birmingham that are doing outstanding work, supporting the most vulnerable children in our city. But they are in increasing crisis. This has to end."

The group met Birmingham City Council leaders last week to press for more support, including action over rising pension contribution costs which is having a huge impact.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

The catalogue of issues revealed by 17 of the city's 27 special schools makes grim reading, with anxious predictions of more problems ahead.

They include:

* Crumbling school buildings - leaking roofs, mould, damaged windows and floors, out-of-date heating and boiler systems, kids taught in temporary buildings - with fears of potential closures in future on safety grounds.

One school warned it had already had to consider closing over the winter because of lack of heating.

The head at Queensbury School, a secondary for 11-19 year olds with moderate learning difficulties and autism, said: "...the environments for staff to teach and students to learn are shameful for a developed country."

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

* Safety risks for pupils at schools with high numbers of children with mobility issues.

The head at the Federation of Cherry Oak and Victoria special schools said: "My primary concern is for pupil safety. I feel we are at genuine risk of not being able to ensure pupil safety in the event of an emergency."

While Steve Hughes, head at Wilson Stuart School, added: "We cannot increase pupil numbers further without developing a situation where pupils are no longer safe. For some of our students with profound needs this would result in us not being able to properly respond to emergencies, for example, fire evacuation."

* Increased risk of expulsions or breakdown of placements for children with behaviour issues, due to lack of staff to support them

At Dame Ellen Pinsent School in Kings Heath, the head Denise Fountain reports a combination of circumstances - including cheaper, less experienced staff, bigger classes, less time and resources for children with more complex needs who are more difficult to manage and support, and less time to work with families - leading to three expulsions this year. There were none the year before.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

* Much bigger class sizes is cited as a common factor across all special schools - with some reporting the ratio of staff to pupils is at the minimum possible without putting pupils at risk. Said one head: "Further reduction in staffing levels, which will be compulsory to make budgets balance, will bring severe risks to the safety of our young people."

* Fewer teachers and teaching assistants is a common factor - at Hamilton School, head Jon Harris reports having to "rely on supply staff and placement students to give adequate staffing levels."

* Losing experienced, more expensive staff and replacing them with inexperienced or less qualified staff or agency stand-ins to reduce staffing costs is another cost cutting measure used by several schools.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

* Enrichment opportunities axed, including after school clubs.

* School trips axed or cut back, often only going ahead if fully funded by struggling parents.

* Reduced expert support around language, music and sensory therapies is cited as a major area of concern by some heads. The head at Dame Ellen Pinsent School said further reductions in speech and language provision "...would impact on our children’s abilities to communicate and further isolate them. It would also impact on their progress and learning. This would be totally unfair, inappropriate and tragic for our children."

* Fear of more legal challenges to schools and Birmingham City Council for failing to fulfil requirements of Education, Health and Care Plans - the legally binding documents setting out a child's entitlements. It is a real risk, said Jackie Smith, head at Baskerville School in Harborne.

* Reduced support for families who often rely on the school for emotional and practical support. Often reduced support can exacerbate behavioural issues at home and school, and can lead to the breakdown of a placement or expulsion.

Inside Selly Oak Trust School

"It's the best job in the world. I'm so proud to be the head teacher here, working with a passionate team of people who would walk over broken glass for these kids, they are phenomenal."

Chris Field, head teacher at Selly Oak Trust School, is beaming with pride as he looks out over the school field at his school, one of the biggest special schools in the city.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

It's the end of term and the school's 387 pupils have been enjoying an active fun day full of fun challenges and games in memory of a former member of staff.

Mr Field is chatting to the excited youngsters as they leave, each of them sharing a story of their favourite part of the day with him.

On the way out they pass the school's horticultural projects, where pupils grow and sell plants in an initiative aiming to raise their life skills, confidence and independence.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Many of the kids have recently taken part in a performance of Grease. He said: "They created the props, the programmes, everything. It was amazing."

The school also runs its own forest school with trained leaders, and has a 10 year link with the royal naval cadet force - 46 students are currently training as cadets.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

It's a UN respecting rights school, and is the only special school in the city to gain Refugees Welcome status for its work to support newly arrived refugees with special needs.

But Selly Oak Trust School is a school facing real challenges, not least because of the increasingly dillapidated state of its buildings.

It is rated 'good with outstanding features', including outstanding leadership and outcomes for pupils - but is doing so against a backdrop of dire financial straits.

Staff routinely buy the pencils, pens and gluesticks their kids use in lessons - and a whole lot more.

The windows at the back of the school haven't been cleaned for five years: "When we are working out what to spend, having a window cleaner comes low on the list," said Mr Field.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Parts of the school site are desperately tired and rundown, in need of repair, upgrade or even just a lick of paint.

On a tour of the school site Mr Field points out mouldy walls, damaged floors, broken drains, showers not working and worn out play areas.

The computers are 12 years old, there's a lack of sensory equipment so vital to some pupils, and kids are being taught in portable buildings that are well past their use-by date.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Said Mr Field: "The fabric of the building suggests we are poor and dilapidated but we have a massive heart and a beautiful staff team that work courageously hard every single day for our students.

"But we need more help, from the local authority and from central government. We need more funding to be able to recruit the specialist staff our children deserve so we can do even better things and to upgrade our buildings.

"As a group of head teachers we have been speaking up about this for years. But the challenge has been getting the right people to listen. We have bonded together because we know that our schools face a real risk of bankruptcy. Some schools are already in deficit, because they have run out of things to safely cut. Others will follow.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

"If we become bankrupt here, that will be 387 children who will have to be placed elsewhere, 150 amazing staff out of work."

Mr Field and his governors have already cut the school day by 30 minutes; increased class sizes; and removed support and teaching assistants from some classes. "This has impacted on the quality of their education and the depth of their learning."

He's also had to significantly reduce mentoring and family support - and as a result some pupils have had to move on to independent, more expensive, provision elsewhere.

The most stark statistic to show the impact of funding pressures is that the number of 'paid hours' worked by staff have decreased by 483 hours A WEEK in five years.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

One of the key cost pressures for his school and others is, he says, the rising 'on-costs' for employing staff, with rising pension costs, national insurance and the apprenticeship levy all having an adverse impact.

His school is in a unique position, as a trust school, of being able to withdraw from Birmingham City Council's own pension scheme which currently requires him to pay a staggering 34% pension contribution for each employee. This, he says, is because the council is trying to claw back a huge deficit in its overall pension pot - but penalising schools to do so.

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

As a result he is now in talks with support staff unions to withdraw and set up an alternative pension scheme for his staff, which would require a much lower contribution.

"We have been clear - if we have to continue to meet these very high pension contribution costs, we will be looking at up to 18 redundancies.

"The pension contributions being asked for from schools by the local authority are just unsustainable. I think any school would withdraw if they could, but many are locked in. It is posing a huge challenge."

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

School by School: What funding pressures has meant for each school

Baskerville School

Baskerville School in Harborne is a special day and residential school for students aged 11 to 19 with autistic spectrum disorders and complex difficulties.

It has already seen:

* Budget for staff development severely cut

* After school clubs axed

* Increased class sizes

Without intervention "the school will become unable to meet the students’ needs as the provision will not be able to fulfill their Education, Health and Care Plans," said head Jackie Smith. "Students' progress will be adversely affected with larger class groups and insufficient training of staff. School buildings that have not been maintained sufficiently are at risk of mechanical breakdown posing a health and safety risk to students and possible prolonged closure."

Calthorpe Academy

Calthorpe Academy has been transformed from a struggling, Ofsted-rated 'inadequate' setting three years ago into one now rated good with outstanding features. However, it is facing funding issues that have triggered:

* Increased class sizes

* Fewer teachers

* Unable to invest in specialist equipment including sensory and outdoor play items

* Changing and toilet areas cramped and pupil dignity 'compromised'

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

If this continues, says head Richard Chapman, there could be: "...further reduction in staffing levels, which will be compulsory to make budgets balance, will bring severe risks to the safety of our young people. Further under investment in required resources will compromise the level and quality of education we can offer to our students to an unacceptably low level. We will need to consider extreme measures such as reduced opening hours in order to allow us to cut staff contractual hours and thereby balance income with continued rising expenditure."

(Image: Birmingham Mail)

Dame Ellen Pinsent

Dame Ellen Pinsent is a primary special school for cognition and learning, with 151 pupils on roll with a range of special educational needs, including autistic spectrum condition, speech and language and moderate to severe learning difficulties.

The impact of cuts includes:

* Less experienced staff and more supply staff because of high costs of pensions and employment costs

* Less time to work with families

* Three pupils excluded in past year as a result - there were no exclusions the year before

* Fewer resources

* Bigger class sizes

If this continues, says head Denise Fountain, we will "have to reduce speech and language provision...this would impact on our children’s abilities to communicate and further isolate them. It would also impact on their progress and learning. This would be totally unfair, inappropriate and tragic for our children.

"Our children face enough barriers in life, we should be helping them find ways to overcome these barriers – the increased funding pressures is preventing this."

Fox Hollies School

Fox Hollies School is an 11-19 secondary school and performing arts college on Highbury Community Campus. An outstanding school, it is a centre of excellence for the performing arts.

But the impact of funding pressures has seen some of the opportunities fall by the wayside, to the dismay of head Keith Youngson, who is taking early retirement. He said: "I have built this provision up over 27 years and it is painful to dismantle it, painful enough that I have handed in my retirement notice."

The school's reputation includes a unique link with the Royal Ballet in Birmingham, providing dance classes for pupils and ex pupils who perform as Freefall dance company.

As well as losing some performing arts opportunities, he has also had to deploy two members of support staff daily all year to assist students travelling to and from school because of city council cuts to the Travel Assist service.

"The reduced budgets, because of additional on-costs for staff, additional hours worked and a growing feeling of helplessness in supporting families has begun to demoralise staff. I was buying in cover to enable staff to take on these extra roles and support transition (to the next education stage). This flexibility has gone as we are in an in year deficit situation."

Hamilton School

Hamilton School head Jon Harris is concerned that the impact of funding pressures means the school is forced to "beg" for basics, from parents and businesses.

The school in Handsworth has around 121 primary age students, all with a diagnosis of autism.

Said Mr Harris: "We cannot afford to maintain the building in a way that we would like. The boilers don’t work properly, the roof leaks and windows are inadequate. We rely on volunteer groups from business and the community to carry out essential short-term maintenance tasks.

"We have reduced the number of permanent members of staff working in the school. We have had to rely on supply staff and placement students to give us adequate staffing levels."

He added: "Morale amongst permanent staff has suffered as we have had to increasingly adopt a skeleton approach to staffing. The environment in which they learn has suffered as we cannot maintain the building.

"In the short-term, we have managed to provide enrichment opportunities through one off donations from business, which required lengthy bid writing. We are increasingly having to ‘beg’ for what is normal in many other schools.

"This situation is not sustainable.

"We cannot increase pupil numbers further as the building is literally full. We are very concerned about our staffing for September as we cannot afford to staff classes to the appropriate level to enable high levels of safety and quality of learning. We will have the highest number of short term supply staff in school that we have ever had.

"We have never excluded students but face the real prospect of this and failing to meet individual needs. This would most likely lead to students attending high cost independent provision.

"Some aspects of the building are in a very poor condition and we considered closing the school at times during winter due to boilers not working properly.

"We run a real risk of losing our ‘Outstanding’ status during our Ofsted inspection next year."

James Brindley Academy

James Brindley Academy is a multi-site, multi-provision special Academy that provides education for around 500 young people every day, aged 2-19, while in hospital or unable to attend mainstream school due to their medical conditions, special educational needs or disability.

It has seen a significant impact from budget pressures, including increased class sizes and difficulties arranging extra funding for one-to-one care for pupils in need.

"The impact of this on the pupils is that those who already find it very difficult to access school and learning do not always receive the support they require. This can lead to break down of placements."

This also impacts on the mental health of students, added the head.

Lindsworth School

Lindsworth School is for around 90 secondary age pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

Budget pressures have forced it to "substantially reduce external services who work with pupils and their families within the school, with no funds now available for external support from counsellors, music therapy and mental health practitioners.

Executive head Kay Reid says: "Our school designation is social, emotional and mental health and we do not have the funds to purchase any mental health specialists. Our pupils have experienced a number of adverse childhood experiences and we cannot offer the specialised support required to improve their future life outcomes."

She says this has "far reaching consequences" for pupils. "It means they are will have to wait much longer periods of time to access these much needed resources. As a consequence pupil difficulties will have an impact for longer, both on their own development and their home lives.

"This will mean that the cyclical nature of some of the difficulties experienced within the generations of our families will remain unbroken and will only continue for future generations."

She added that increased class sizes and reduced staffing would cause significant health and safety risks, in part due to the volatile nature of some pupils. "We could not operate safely as a school in this situation and we could not implement this."

Another future option would be to reduce the school day on at least one day a week - but that too is not an easy solution, as it could have 'life-long implications for our learners. Reducing staff hours will also impact on their families and staff morale."

Longwill School for Deaf Children

Longwill School for Deaf Children is an outstanding school for profoundly deaf pupils aged 2-11, located in Northfield.

One of the most challenging impacts of money pressures is that the school must now meet the cost of training up staff to achieve the mandatory qualification for teachers of the deaf; previously this had come from a central fund, said the head Alison Carter.

The school has also increased class sizes and reduced the number of teaching assistants, and cut support from other agencies and professionals such as Occupational Therapy, Educational Psychology, Behaviour Support and Speech and Language Therapy.

Mayfield School

Mayfield School has also seen increased class sizes and fewer staff, and cannot afford to bring in outside experts, nor indulge in expert staff development.

"We cannot afford to purchase basic new curriculum resources such as replacing old and damaged books for the library or improve our ageing IT equipment, as our priority has to be having high enough staffing ratios to keep the children safe.

"Our computers and IT infrastructure are already dreadfully out of date and regularly fail due to their age, but there is currently no option to replace them."

The school has also cut its after school clubs, "despite knowing the huge benefits it can bring to the pupils."

Reduced spending on maintenance also could have a "catastrophic effect on the long term quality of our school buildings".

Oscott Manor

At Oscott Manor School there were no residential visits in the last year because of funding cuts, while there has been limited access to specialist support.

"The risk is that we withdraw all access to these services in the future as they are too costly to provide. This will have a disastrous effect on the most vulnerable children in society and will prevent them from accessing support that it vital to their mental and physical health, well-being, personal development and access to age appropriate experiences both within school and outside of it."

Priestley Smith specialist school for blind and partially sighted students

Priestley Smith school also has to now fund mandatory qualifications for its staff, at high annual costs. It has also had to cease music therapy support, and there has been a loss of speech and language therapy provision.

"We are greatly concerned that the strain on staffing, with higher class sizes, increased complexity and medical need and reduced individual and small group support, will impact heavily in the future and lead to less favourable outcomes."

Queensbury School

Queensbury School is a secondary special school in Erdington, with up to 234 students aged 11-19 years, who have Moderate Learning Difficulties. Many students have additional needs including communication disorders and autism.

It has seen increased student numbers and reduced staffing, with less capacity to meet individual needs.

"The school infrastructure, building and learning environments have been neglected for a number of years to achieve a balanced budget. Priorities are only directed to immediate health and safety concerns.

"The learning environments are unattractive and the school has to deal with leaks, electrical, water, drainage and sewage issues on a regular basis. Eight mobile classrooms are coming to end of life along with 60% of the roof structure. The spend on these areas draws funding away from the students and school improvement initiatives. Ultimately the environments for staff to teach and students to learn are shameful for a developed country."

Springfield House School

Springfield House School is a day and residential special school in Knowle, Solihull, for youngsters aged 5 -11 who experience social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

The school is currently undergoing a restructure to reduce staffing costs, which will result in the loss of experienced staff.

Other cuts already made include:

* reducing the school day one day a week from September 2019

* reduced external services who work with pupils and their families within the school

The head, Kay Reid, added: "We may have to consider reducing our pupil:staff ratio - however, if this has to be implemented there would be significant health and safety risks due to the volatile and unpredictable nature of the pupils we cater for. We could not operate safely as a school in this situation and we could not implement this.

She added: "We already spend the minimum we can on building repair and maintenance. The rolling program of works to provide a good quality environment to our learners is minimal already. If we have to cut this budget further the school will fall into a state of disrepair and we may have to implement closures due to not being able to fund repairs to high cost items such as lifts and roofs."

Federation of Cherry Oak and Victoria School

Cherry Oak is a school for pupils aged 4 to 11 who have special education needs and disabilities from cognition and learning difficulties, including severe learning difficulties and speech, communication and language difficulties.

Victoria Specialist Arts College is for pupils aged 2 to 19 years with cognition and learning needs including complex physical and health needs.

The impact of cuts includes:

* Class sizes have increased and staffing reduced

* "There are real concerns for educational quality as well as safety, for instance in the event of an emergency evacuation."

* "We no longer have a music teacher."

* Management has also been reduced and further redundancies and reductions by natural attrition are planned.

* Reduced external trips, visits

* Cuts to speech and language to one day per week per school - to the detriment of our pupils

Executive head teacher Julie Fardell: "Both schools in our Federation have been consistently judged “Outstanding” by Ofsted. We have worked so hard to embed excellence in education with strong professional development and sharing of good practice.

"All of these strategies are at risk of being eroded due to decreased staffing and consequent illness, stress and staff absence.

"My primary concern is for pupil safety. I feel we are at genuine risk of not being able to ensure pupil safety in the event of an emergency.

"Even the daily processes of lifting, transferring and feeding physically vulnerable pupils is potentially dangerous because of inadequate numbers of trained staff. Our ability to continue to deliver truly outstanding teaching, learning and care is severely compromised by financial constraints on staffing and professional development.

"I fear that we are approaching a time when we can only provide a basic educational provision rather than the vibrant, rich curriculum we have previously been able to deliver. Further, I am concerned at the potential for the school (and hence the Local Authority) to be challenged for not being able to meet all of the requirements in some pupils’ EHCPs owing to inadequate funding to employ the number of qualified professionals needed to meet those needs.

"We have certainly been in the position of having to make hard decisions based entirely on financial consideration, rather than educational excellence and this is very troubling.

"I fear that the Special School sector will face a crisis in losing many experienced and skilled Head teachers, Teachers and Support Staff who may choose to retire or resign in the next few years rather than continuing to try to deliver quality education in the current (and worsening) financial climate. Even if there was then an increase in funding, it will be impossible to replace this lost expertise once it is gone."

Wilson Stuart School

Wilson Stuart School head Steve Hughes is worried for the future of his sector. "The education and the rich curriculum our students previously enjoyed is and benefited from is becoming increasingly diluted and poorer.

"The reduction in staffing levels in real terms is adding pressure and at the same time limiting the opportunities and achievements of our pupils.

"The removal of educational visits is denying a situation and experience our pupils loved; many describing it as the best time in their lives.

"Parents too are being denied a rare and very short break from their tremendous responsibilities and workload in caring for their children."

The school, rated outstanding, has 173 pupils aged 2-25 years. Some pupils have additional difficulties including sensory impairment, learning difficulties, communication difficulties or complex medical conditions.

(Image: Sutton Coldfield Observer)

Mr Hughes said increasing pupil numbers as a way to raise income was not an option "without developing a situation where pupils are no longer safe."

He also raised concerns that reduced staffing levels would then jeopardise response to emergencies, including fire evacuation.

Mr Hughes added: "Many of our students require individual staff support and stimulus. If unattended they would not interact and not engage at all. Students with complex medical issues would also be at an increased risk. A school increasingly forced into becoming insular will provide a narrow and limited curriculum. All of this adds up to a potential situation where students as a result of their disability would not be given the educational opportunities available to their able-bodied and cognitively able peers."

What Birmingham City Council says

Cllr Kate Booth, cabinet member for children's wellbeing, said: "We appreciate the concerns of all head teachers across the city’s 460 schools around school budgets, which includes the work of our 27 special schools and their desire to maintain the quality of provision in response to the needs of local children and young people with additional needs.

"As part of the city council’s annual planning cycle the council has agreed with local head teachers (including local special school heads) the need to review the efficiency and effectiveness of the impact of the local offer and the deployment of local resources, systems and processes in meeting the needs of the 51,000 children and young people aged 2-25 with additional needs across the city...t his must however be viewed in the context of the council's well-publicised financial situation and the national SEND funding gap for local authorities of £600m, translating to £16m across Birmingham.

"As we have reported recently to schools forum, the government's increase in high needs funding remains inadequate and the requested top-up funding would require extra expenditure exceeding £10m for the 27 special schools and significantly more once all of Birmingham’s schools are bought into the mix.

"We know that ongoing dialogue is required between the local authority and all of our schools when looking at the needs of children and young people with additional needs and this forms part of the consultation process around the further development of the Birmingham local offer and our long term sufficiency planning for children and young people with additional needs."

What the Department for Education says

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our ambition is for every child, no matter the challenges they face, to have access to a world class education that sets them up for life. High needs funding for children and young people with more complex needs is a priority for this government and we know that councils and schools are facing pressures.

“In December we provided an extra £250 million up to 2020 to help manage these costs. This takes the total amount that we have allocated for high needs funding to £6.3 billion this year – up from £5 billion in 2013 - of which £162m was allocated to Birmingham.

“We have launched a call for evidence to make sure the funding system is getting money to the right places at the right time and we are revising the SEND Code of Practice to improve ways to identify and meet special educational needs. Alongside this, the Education Secretary has been clear that we are working closely with the sector as we approach the spending review.”