Vulnerable ‘put at risk’

Mrs Powers, a special-needs education assistant from Durham Road School in Bayswater, joined thousands of staff in the education sector who went to Gloucester Park racecourse last Thursday to protest against the planned cuts.

The school is an independent public school, which caters specifically for students with intellectual and physical disabilities, vision and hearing impairments and challenging behaviour.

There were 50 education assistants who worked at the school and every one of them was needed, Mrs Powers said.

They not only broke down lesson plans so students were able to achieve academically, they also dealt with a range of challenging behaviour to keep consistency in the classroom.

‘We set standards for these students to work towards, but because they have learning disabilities they need time and one-on-one attention to achieve them.’

Mrs Powers said the Government was essentially ‘dumbing down’ education by reducing the number of education assistants and students would be denied the right to a quality education.