The Disability Society says it has written to the Chief Minister to call for an “Ofsted inspection” at St Martin’s School and all SEN provisions in all schools.

A statement from the Gibraltar Disability Society follows below:

The new school term is once again upon us and it is apparent that there are issues  within education that need to be addressed. Concerns are being raised over the last  minute selection of supply teachers and LSA’s. In fact interviews are set to held for  LSA posts after the new term has already begun. The continual use of supply  contracts is worrying in itself. Those who are lucky enough to be reselected on a  supply contract may not necessarily be placed in the same school as the preceding  year. Once again the Disability Society must use the phrase continuity of care.  Continuity of care is of the upmost importance in any resource for those with  disabilities. 

Consternation was expressed recently about St Martin’s having already reached  capacity. The Government’s reply that the school was built so it could possibly be  enlarged with a new floor is unsatisfactory. It begs the question of why an extra floor  was not included when originally built. Surely some use would have been made of the  extra space if there was a fluctuation in pupil numbers. This leads onto a subject the  Society has raised on a number of occasions; the need to expand St Bernadette’s  Resource Centre. Once again the issue of future planning seems to be noticeably  absent. St Bernadette’s already has a large compliment of service users and the  numbers up and coming from St Martin’s is forecast to increase exponentially. With  longer life expectancy for those with disabilities, a resource centre for those 16 years  and over need to enlarged urgently. Further education at the college for those with  special educational needs must also grow and adapt to offer the best possible options. The Disability Society has written to the Chief Minister, in conjunction with this press  release, to call for an Ofsted inspection at St Martin’s School and all SEN provisions  in all main stream schools and the Gibraltar College; with all reports being made  available in the public domain. After all, in UK these inspections are held in all  educational facilities every 4 years, with the reports published on the Ofsted website.  The last Ofsted inspection in Gibraltar was over 20 years ago and its findings were  never made public.