Free school aims to be beacon of hope for dyslexia

A PIONEERING school that would offer a mainstream education to children with dyslexia could be set up Yorkshire. The Leeds and Bradford Dyslexia Association (LABDA) plan to set up its own free school and believes it would be the first of its kind in the country.

The proposal has won the backing of Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew, who has written to Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove asking for his support and advice.

Pat Payne, spokeswoman for LABDA, said specialist schools already exist but this would be a beacon school, offering a mainstream education for all children, but with a curriculum, facilities and specially trained teachers to cater for pupils with dyslexia.

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She said: "We want to prove that a mainstream school can cope with dyslexic children. A lot of the children that we support are not getting what they need in the mainstream system.

"What we do as a voluntary group is help individuals get a better deal, but there must be hundreds out there who do not know we exist. But if they had a school like this in the area people can travel to it and get the help that they need."

A free school is an independent state school set up by a group of parents, teachers or charities. Free schools can be set up anywhere and in any type of building, either in residential or commercial properties.

Ms Payne said the charity has spoken to the two local education authorities they work with and both have shown an interest in the project.

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She said: "The charity would not be involved in the day-to-day running of the school, we would start things up and then the Government would help us find the right people and teachers. Our role would be more like governors, working from the outside.

"Under the free school scheme, most of the schools being set up are quite exclusive for small numbers of mainstream pupils – what we are setting up is something for the wider population to address an area of specialist need.

"It is not a special needs school, those are already available, it would be a mainstream school with the specialist skills and expertise for teaching children with dyslexia without disadvantaging the mainstream pupils.

"We believe it would be a beacon school, there is no one else doing this that we know of – if there were we would like to get in touch with them and share ideas."

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Ms Payne said she would like it to be established in the Pudsey area, so the school could be used by pupils in both Bradford and Leeds. It would start with about 60 to 100 pupils, but she believes it could grow to around 800.

The school would be a through school – offering facilities for young people from five through to 18 – and the class sizes would be small.

The teachers would be specially trained to work with dyslexic children, and the curriculum would be designed so that both dyslexic and mainstream pupils could work together.

The school would also offer training for those who want to work with dyslexic children.

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Ms Payne said there is a need for such schools nationwide, but particularly in the North.

She said that two years ago the Government set aside 10m to train teachers to teach dyslexic children, but none of that money came to the North as there were no centres here.

She said: "We believe that a dyslexia friendly school would be a mainstream school that embraces teaching all pupils in a multi-sensory method that benefits all pupils and encourages all of them to reach their full potential.

"We all know that too many pupils leave both primary and then inevitably secondary school with very poor skills in reading, writing and maths.

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"This should not be happening in our society today and we know that with appropriate teaching all pupils can succeed."

Mr Andrew, who has been a governor of a special needs school, said he fully supported the plans and had written to the Minister asking for his backing.

He said: "In my experience these children are often very bright but because of their dyslexia, and the lack of specific teaching that can help, they fall behind.

"What LABDA is proposing is a really good example of how the free school policy can work for the good of the community."

Homes and offices may become schools

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The Coalition Government has invited teachers, charities and parents to set up "free schools" – independent state schools run by teachers and accountable to parents.

Potential sites will include using residential and comm-ercial property as schools without the need for 'change of use' consent.

There will also be an extension of powers to protect existing schools sites, to make sure they are kept available for use by new schools where there is demand.

All applicants for new schools will be checked for their suitability as part of an approval process.

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When writing the proposal, groups will have to set out the aims and objectives of the new school, the main people and organisations

involved in the project, evidence of parental demand, an outline of the curriculum and their teaching methods and possible premises that have been considered.

At a later date successful groups will have to complete a full business plan including setting out the school's financial viability.