Eden Manor New Secondary Special School Brent

We Care Foundation, has been established by a group of parents in Brent NW London, who each have a child with special educational needs, together with a number of teaching professionals, health professionals and local community organizations.

EDEN MANOR



The organization recently submitted a proposal to Brent Council as the Trustees of Barham Park, to transform the vacant library building that was closed at Barham Park, into a Secondary Special School called EDEN MANOR, for young people aged 11+ with a learning impairment of Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and or Dyscalculia. Proposed opening date for Eden Manor is September 2013 with admission for 20 pupils in year 7 and year 10.  The proposed school will eventually accommodate 100 cohorts from year 7 onwards with the ability for all pupils to continue their education at the school after year 9. This will be in contrast to the current Brent Local Authority arrangements where a number of pupils have to be transferred from Woodfield to Alperton Community School after year 9, as there are simply not enough places at Woodfield for all pupils currently admitted to year 7. For any child, transferring to another school midway through Secondary Education is a challenge and can be detrimental to their learning. But for a child with autism, the disruption to learning and the inability to easily develop social friendships in moving schools can have a profound negative impact on their future academic achievements. Brent are consulting on Special Educational Needs and you need to have your say on Brent Education by 30 November 2012. Follow the link http://www.brent.gov.uk/home.nsf/news/LBB-1800

The recently published draft Brent Special Educational Needs strategy document, highlights there are currently 174 young people in Brent attending Out of Borough Special Schools, as there are insufficient places in Brent. We should point out this is double the national average. It is expected that by 2020 an extra 200 special school places will be required in the Borough of Brent, let alone the London wide school placement shortfall causing over-crowding and bulge classes in all schools across the capital. Those children with special educational needs are particularly at risk of falling behind in the current fight for school places.

The community desperately needs more schools and our proposal for Eden Manor at Barham Park does not even require the high cost of building a new school. Furthermore Brent Local Authority spent 300,000 Pounds in 2010 refurbishing part of Barham Park, prior to the library being closed. Surely in these times of Austerity, we all need to be thinking about how best to use a Local Community Resources, particularly when at least part of the building at Barham Park has had substantial money spent by Brent Local Authority and that money ultimately comes from Brent Council Tax payers. Rather than fighting Austerity with loads of Local Authority cuts, Brent Local Authority need to think creatively and innovatively, Furthermore Brent are not engaging and working with local community organizations. We openingly express a request to Councillor Butt, as the leader of Brent Coucil, to start working with those in the community who have innovative ideas to solve the social issues in the Borough. Up until now, it has been like a Brick Wall of Silence between those in the community and Brent Local Authority.

The current budget cuts are forcing more pupils with special educational needs into mainstream education and while obviously some children will thrive in a mainstream education, others will struggle. It is those children who constantly struggle, resulting in a lack of self confidence and self esteem that detrimentally impacts on their ability to learn and therefore inability to pass those rigorous exams. Case in point is last weeks article in the Guardian of the very tragic case in Brent of School Exclusions. Read and watch short video about this tragic case. http://t.co/4SApSUXO Could this happen to your child ?

EDEN MANOR will work collaboratively with community stakeholders and will
evolve as a Co-Op College. We Care Foundation submitted a proposal in 2011 to the Department for Education (DFE) in response to the first call for Free Special School proposals. Brent Local Authority would not support our proposal eventhough there is clear need in the Borough of Brent for more Specialist School provision. Our application to DFE in 2011 was not successful, as unlike mainstream Free Schools, Special Free School criteria is such that a Local Authority has to be fully supportive as ultimately the Local Authority budget will be funding a Special Free School rather than funding coming directly from the Secretary of State. We suggest that this is causing further distress to areas of high need for more specialist educational provision and we did not submit an application to DFE in 2012 as Brent Local Authority would not simply suport our application for a second time. The funding benefits of a "Free Special School" would unlock direct development funding, where as establishing as a Co-Op College will require community support in fundraising and donating to this Worthy Brent cause.

While the inclusion debate has focussed on the need to have every child attending a mainstream schools, we should point out when you have a major medical problem you don't expect your GP to be the surgeon, you expect a Specialist Surgeon. There is nothing inherently wrong with some children attending specialist education, where there are a high number of specially trained teachers. Given the number of parents in Brent who are opting to sent their child Out of Borough, simply because there is no suitable provision in Brent, suggests that parents want greater educational choice, with a variety of educational provisions.

Brent Local Authority and the Unions are totally opposed to the "Free School Agenda." We respect Brent and the Unions position on Free Schools, however simply closing the mind to try new educational models results in less innovation. It is our view that educational standards for children with special educational needs can only be driven up, with a wider variety of Specialist Schools, equipped with modern interactive technology and highly skilled and specialist teachers and therapists together with a building that inspires pupils to engage, think and learn. We suggest that Barham Park offers such an opportunity and Eden Manor will become a beacon of excellance in educating young pupil with a learning impairment.

The location of Barham Park in parkland, provides a natural and peaceful learning environment and we believe will allow the natural creativity hidden within a young person with a learning impairment to achieve their potential. Furthermore the location of Barham Park has excellent transport links Borough wide with 18, 182, 92, 204, 245 and H19 stopping directly outside, combined with good connections on the tube with Sudbury Town, Wembley Central and even Wembley Park and overground rail links. The importance of very good transport links is that pupils who may attend will inherently come from all wards in the  Borough of Brent. Traditionally Brent has incurred very high transport costs in providing Local Authority provided transport, because the special schools that Brent parents choose are well out of Borough with some children actually travelling across to South London on a daily basis to attend Centre Academy in Battersea. Both the current Village School and Woodfield are not well serviced by public transport in any event. We estimate a Brent Local Authority saving in the order of 250,000 per annum if you reduce reliance on Local Authority provided transport, by placing another special school in the Borough. Not only is there a major potential cost saving for Brent Local Authority in agreeing to our proposal for Eden Manor in respect to travel costs, but for long term independence, it would be better to support as many children as possible in using public transport to travel between school and home. This can only be achieved by locating any Special School provision within proximity to very good cross Borough transport links. Furthermore we would also suggest that pupils if they were schooled locally in Brent could also participate in after school sports and extra curricula activities. Given long travel journeys in attending Out of Borough schools, most children with special educational needs do not have such opportunity, as they return home well after these activities would have begun.

Pupils will come from a wide geographical area across Brent with potentially some pupils also being admitted from neighbouring Boroughs of Harrow and Ealing. The location for EDEN MANOR is ideal, as there a wide variety of public transport routes that would support independent travel, increasing the educational experience of each pupil attending the school, so that pupils are confident and capable upon leaving the school to live fulfilling, satisfying and independent lives.

Increased Employment opportunities in Brent with long term 30 Full Time staff at Eden Manor will bring much needed new jobs to Brent and in particular the local community of Sudbury. If you have any skills and would like to lend us a hand, we urgently need Volunteers to support the work we are doing to secure Barham Park. For those with real determination, a long term job is possible as we will need to fill many posts once we secure approval to open. Please email : volunteer@edenmanor.co.uk


The long term benefit of locating Eden Manor at Barham Park is that we could open up parts of the building for evening and weekend educational classes and study area with an IT suite with access to learning space. It will not be the same  as the old Barham Library, but we suggest the local community of Sudbury want the building at Barham Park to have some form of educational purpose and we suggest that the School together with local community support would be able to deliver an after school educational provision that added value to the local community, rather than simply not exploring and delivering other alternatives to the Local Community.

We also suggest that our proposal for Barham Bus Cafe in Barham Park could be used as a social enterprise training work experience opportunity for pupils attending Eden Manor.  Local community food growing at Barham Park would also support a number of educational opportunities for both pupils and the community to engage collaboratively. It will be necessary to fence a section of the parkland around the buildings of Barham Park, however this can be done so that it does not detract from the public space of Barham Park. Our verbal communication with the Charity Commission on this point, suggests that  it would be possible under Child Protection reasons to fence an area of parkland at Barham Park. Public enjoyment of any fenced area after school hours would be possible.

Have your say and help us deliver a New School for Brent. We have had no Government or Local Authority Funding and the lead Mr Toby Chambers has dedicated over 1 year of his time without any remuneration in preparing the business case and fighting for this Worthy Cause, that is to provide Better Educational Provision in Brent for Children with Special Eductional Needs

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, SO PLEASE DONATE NOW !

(Go to Donate Button on Top Right Hand Corner to Donate)

Please also follow @Eden_Manor or email donate@edenmanor with your Twitter Handle and we will follow you and Tweet #ThankYouForYourDonation once we have received your donation and you can retweet to all your followers. )

(Please be aware there is still no guarantee we will secure the building at Barham Park, but your generosity will go a long way in proving up the business case and successfully securing the building, as we do now need vital funds to proceed.

 Please keep in touch via email info@edenmanor.co.uk, Facebook Eden Manor, Tweet @Eden_Manor or simply phone 02089028821)



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