Parent post newsletter issue four

North Lanarkshire Council recently launched its Strategy for Inclusion. This new strategy is the result of the authority's 2002 inspection when a major action point to pull together all our inclusion initiatives into an overarching strategy was identified. As a result, a working group has been meeting over the last 18 months to integrate all aspects of the new inclusion strategy.

Commenting on the strategy, Michael O'Neill, the Director of Education, said,

"An inclusive approach to education will benefit everyone. It's nothing more or less than good education benefiting all young people. Our new inclusion strategy is there to reinforce and support the good practice already in place in North Lanarkshire. Through our Raising Achievement for all policy we already pursue a range of positive inclusive approaches. This strategy will just reinforce, resource and support what we already do."

Central to the strategy is the belief that all pupils benefit from inclusive approaches to learning. Accordingly, the authority is committed to: creating a learning environment in which all young people can flourish developing a learning support system which helps pupils who encounter difficulties helping young people with disabilities to attend local mainstream centres or schools, if appropriate, thereby enriching the educational experience of all children.

The Strategy for Inclusion brings together many existing initiatives to form a cohesive strategy to help all young people achieve. Some examples of existing good practice include:

• positive approaches to discipline including a commitment to training at least one teacher per establishment and all Special Educational Needs support staff in Positive Inclusive Practice
• a major training programme for all staff with more staff now than ever being trained in the inclusion agenda.
• improved educational outcomes for looked after children through initiatives like the 'Virtual Schoolbag' - ICT hardware and software programmes - designed to support children in children's units and foster families.
• curricular flexibility through the relaxation of 'age and stage', the continuing development of vocational education and the development of alternative curricula through secondary cluster arrangements
• a single shared assessment model
• co-operative learning strategies to create an inclusive learning environment
• Partnership officers in secondary schools actively working with parents and carers to improve homeschool links
• early years initiatives to challenge attitudes to disability
• multi-agency working through Integrated community schools
• the use of ICT software to support individual learners.