Concerned parents rally against proposed cuts to Additional Support Needs (ASN) support staff in Moray Schools

CONCERNED parents have rallied together to protest against plans to cut the hours of pupil support assistants, which will potentially impact around 5000 children in Moray who have additional support needs.

School staff were informed last month that Moray Council plans to drastically reduce the funding for pupil support assistants, which will result in job losses among school staff and reduce the amount of support available for children requiring additional support needs (ASN) assistance.

Members of the Education, Children’s and Leisure Services Committee met today (Tuesday, May 14) to discuss proposed changes as part of the council’s ASN Change Management Plan.

Councillor Bridget Mustard, who is deputy chair of the committee met with protesters ahead of the meeting and said that members “are aware of the strength of feeling on this issue” and “that the appropriate level of care and education is a significant priority for parents and carers.”

Many of the parents attending the protest are part of Moray’s ASN Parent Carer Action Group and are also urging the council to provide a specialist ASN school in Moray, to ensure that all children can have their educational needs met.

The parents argue that mainstream schools in Moray are already struggling to support ASN children effectively, and many parents worry about the impact this will have on their children.

Lauren Clark, whose eight-year-old daughter Lola has Cerebral Palsy, said: “We found out people would be losing their jobs and that essentially is cuts to our children and what they need at school.

"Moray Council believes that mainstream education equals inclusion, but in reality, children like Lola are excluded, she is spending about 99 percent of the time in the ASN base. That is not the school’s fault, but they don’t have what they need to give her the education she needs.

“The situation before this was already bad and we were already planning a protest, but to hear about the cuts makes it even worse. We’re really worried about the impact on our children but also on children who are in mainstream, teachers will be more stressed and overwhelmed than they are now because they won’t have the support of the PSAs who are so vital to the whole working of the school.

"Lola’s PSA is fantastic. We don’t want to lose them but we need them in a specialist school environment without any cuts."

Another parent, Rachel McIntosh, whose daughter Piper is in primary 3, said she feared that reduced support in schools will affect Piper’s ability to interact socially with her peers. She said: "Piper has just started going to mainstream classes, but if she loses her PSA, she won't manage in a mainstream classroom. It is just gutting, it might be high school before Piper will be able to be in mainstream and socially she will be so far behind.”

The parents also emphasised the vital role PSA’s play in helping children reach goals set out by supporting youngsters with their speech, physical therapy and personal care needs.

Jillian Groves, whose son Tom requires one-to-one support at Elgin High School said: "Tom needs personal care and full assistance, including help with his communication device. If PSAs are cut, he won't receive the level of support he currently enjoys.

“He absolutely loves school and he gets everything he needs at the moment, but if they cut staff he is not going to have that support. He is flourishing at the moment and he is loving school, but I can see us having to cut back to a part-time, if not a miniscule timetable, in order for him to get the support he needs.”

Rachel added: "There are nearly 5,000 children with ASN in Moray and these are not reflecting that at all. ASN provision needs to be increased massively, there’s not enough as it is – they are certainly not getting it right for every child now and with these cuts it will only get worse.”

Cllr Bridget Mustard, said: “We appreciate the time parents and carers took to join us ahead of committee where the ASN Change Management Plan will be discussed. We’d like to reassure them that elected members are aware of the strength of feeling on this issue and that it isn’t just about numbers and that the appropriate level of care and education is a significant priority for parents and carers.

“The plan recognises that additional support needs are varied and have developed and changed over time, which is why our proposals to redesign the service for supporting pupils with ASN has gone through a number of iterations, taking account of learning from other local authorities and input from across our own teams to make sure we make the changes needed to get it right to meet future needs.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.