A world class school

Hot on the heels of an outstanding OFSTED report, Anne Corbett, headteacher at Richard Cloudesley School in London, explains to Mark King how she has used increased funding from the Labour government to produce an outstanding school for children with physical disabilities
Richard Cloudesley School
Pupils at Richard Cloudesley School watch a bellydancer perform at its recent Eid celebrations. Photograph: supplied by Richard Cloudesley School

I had a very odd experience when I was a child. I went to a convent school in Belfast which was across the road from a special school and we were not allowed to look at the children there, we were told to avert our eyes. The nuns didn't want us to stare because these pupils were wearing helmets, they were Down's Syndrome, and the nuns thought they were protecting the children. As a result I was always really interested in children with special educational needs in mainstream schools and at my last secondary school there were some children with physical disabilities and I just got more and more interested in the needs of those children and decided that that was the kind of school I wanted to be in, that had a focus on the whole child rather than just exam results.

The classes here are smaller than mainstream schools with an average of 7 pupils and we have a higher staffing level. On site we have health services (physiotherapy, speech & language therapy, occupational therapy, a school nurse) as well as teachers and teaching assistants, so we have a team around the child. We spend a lot of time on personal care for children, which is a fundamental part of the day. We do everything a mainstream school does and the challenge for us is to keep it as a school and not to let the therapy and medical needs take over, because we could very easily turn into a therapy centre for children.

We integrate physiotherapy into PE which is quite appropriate for the younger ones, otherwise you risk separating the child into two bits, the mind and the body, and it can be a disjointed experience for the child. We try to join it up so the day makes some sense and that they don't associate physiotherapy with pain, or the speech & language therapy with failure.

Most of the children here are in a wheelchair and those that are ambulant have some other form of physical disability. We have children who are very able doing GCSEs and we have children with quite severe learning difficulties and quite complex needs.

The pupils start at age 2-3 and can stay until they're 19. For some of our teenagers it's a very difficult time. When they reach puberty they have more of an understanding about their disability because they see themselves in relation to other teenagers, and they may have siblings who are starting to do the things they can't do, like go out. The majority of the children have no independence and they're completely dependant on their parents and that's very difficult for them.

We employ a psychotherapist in school to give the teenagers support with this transition but it's hard, particularly for those who have got degenerative conditions because they start to realise what's happening. They start to think about sex education and adult relationships and they realise…gosh…it's going to be difficult and they should be experimenting with all kinds of things but they haven't got the space to do that because they can't ever get away from adults. Of course I am affected by this, to see them realising what's not available to them. They watch TV and they know teenage culture very well, they know all about football and music and they know what teenagers do, and some of them are very lonely. It's hard for the whole family.

We do a lot of work on disability awareness and advocacy and encouraging young people to be look at their civil rights and civic responsibilities so they can make the transition to adulthood safely. From about 14 we put them in touch with a range of agencies who can give them advice about further education, about housing, about benefits, and we encourage them to make decisions rather than depend on adults.

People still have a tendency to talk to people in wheelchairs as though they're slightly idiotic or childlike. People are almost afraid to get down to eye level so there's a lot of talking down and patting and touching, people are very fond of touching and patting. "What's your name?" and "Ooh, that's a wonderful wheelchair." Well, it's never a wonderful wheelchair, it's a wheelchair. Or when children have speech aids, people want to play with them and say it's great, but it's only because they're embarrassed. Children mainly experience the embarrassment that some adults have about disability and people don't quite know what to do with it so they chatter. But they mean well. And maybe there's a backlash about disability rights, with people feeling aggrieved that they have to wait on, say, London buses. People aren't very patient. For young people with cerebral palsy, people seem to associate slurred speech with learning difficulties and I think that's something they have to deal with.

The funding we get from the government is very good and has enabled us to employ the staff we need and offer training to that staff. We have funding from some charities to buy some extras. A local foundation gives us money for dance therapy, play therapy and psychotherapy. And the workers on the London Underground Northern Line collect money for us, last year they collected £11,000. The school is funded for 39 weeks a year, but I'd like it to be funded for 48 weeks, for children with special needs and even social needs. For the parents, the summer is far too long and really difficult. Many live in very small flats with no movement for wheelchair users.

Our recent Ofsted report was a great moment. It was outstanding. It would be nice not to have the sword of Ofted dangling over you because I don't think there's another profession that's has to be on alert like this and then for the report to be made public in such a fashion. It's not like this in Northern Ireland or Australia and they have perfectly good education systems. I think it's a legacy from the Thatcher years where there was a sense of "let's beat up the educationalists" with the 1988 Education Act. I don't mind a high level of accountability and open books but to be scrutinised in such a way as a professional is slightly unfair and that's why there's a shortage of head teachers because they don't want to work having to be on their guard all the time.