Chartfield School Campaign Goes National

Efforts to save local school stepped up as deadline approaches

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With the Council meeting that will decide the future of Chartfield School looming, campaigners to save the school have been stepping up their efforts to save the school. The issue has attracted national interest with the Times featuring the school in a two page article. This was followed up by a series of supportive letters in the paper including one from Tony Colman MP.

Samantha Battersby of the Chartfield Action Group said, "The council vote on 20th January so we need all the help we can get."
Chartfield Parents Action Group was founded by parents, governors and friends of Chartfield School in Putney in December 2002. This was in response to the “Planning for Inclusion” document published by Wandsworth Borough Council at that time with the proposal to close the school and move the children to either other special schools or integrate them into mainstream education. Parents believe this plan is short-sighted and will have a detrimental effect on the pupils at Chartfield and those that will be denied the opportunity to attend in the future.

Chartfield is a secondary special needs school, in an idyllic part of Putney, and has been there since 1960. At present they've around 100 pupils who come to them mostly from Wandsworth with some from the adjacent LEAs. They're designated as a delicate school and the pupils are those who may have specific learning needs such as dyslexia, language disorders, Aspergers Syndrome, medical needs such as epilepsy or may simply need a smaller learning environment for this stage in their education.

To find out more about the campaign you can visit the campaign's web site. www.handsoffchartfield.co.uk

February 22, 2010