Rector reveals 40% of Wick High School pupils have additional support needs – respite care call continues
The rector of Wick High School revealed that 40 per cent of pupils have additional support needs and was quizzed about the educational facility’s use of the former Avonlea children’s home.
The revelation came at a meeting of the Association of Caithness Community Councils (ACCC), at Watten Village Hall on Wednesday evening, which included representatives from two pressure groups to bring back respite care to Caithness for children and adults with additional support needs (ASN).
Sarah Jane Scollay, chairperson of Encompass Caithness, said her pressure group was delighted to hear from Jacqui Hutchinson, Highland Council’s strategic lead for care and support, that the local authority now had a “head of steam” to, once again, deliver respite care for children with additional support needs.
An “options appraisal” was being developed, the meeting was told, to explore possibilities. “We feel vindicated,” Ms Scollay said. “Our campaign is beginning to turn concerns into actions.
“It was a passionate and at times frustrating meeting. We are very grateful to ACCC chairman Alastair Ferrier for arranging for everyone to express their views and find ways of working together.”
However, she said the Encompass group is “extremely disappointed that the high school will segregate” children with ASN to the former Avonlea children’s home. The rector admitted it was not his preferred choice and would have preferred to see an extension built at the school to address the matter.
Ms Scollay added: “Forty per cent of the high school roll, he tells us, has additional support needs, a number running into hundreds of school children – surely they can’t all go to Avonlea?”
Encompass members noted that Wick and East Caithness councillor Jan McEwan had described the situation as “scandalous” when given the chance to speak at the ACCC meeting.
“Remote, detached segregation is not the answer,” Ms Scollay added. “The ‘new’ high school continues to fall short of the support needs of local children and, therefore, the community.
“We still want to hear from NHS Highland what plans they have to deliver an appropriate day centre with meaningful activities to local adults with a range of support needs and disabilities. This is obviously a huge need and likely to be one of our main priorities going forward.
“We are now collating the results of our survey. We’ve had a huge response. More than 100 respondents. We look forward to sharing its outcomes and revealing the scale of unmet needs”.
“It’s heartening that we’ve got people talking and agreeing that things need to change but actions will, ultimately, speak louder than words.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Jones from a similar pressure group called Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign (CSRC) called the meeting a “waste of time”.
“It was like hearing a TV episode on repeat, where all the same official council claims were reeled off. Disturbingly, many who were present around the table either genuinely didn't know what on earth has been going on behind the scenes with Thor House and Avonlea – or they pretended not to know.
“Raymond Bremner was a huge disappointment, sitting there engrossed in his laptop screen, clearly put out that he had to be there at all. But worse, he remained completely silent until he was singled out for not having said a word.
“When he did speak, it was nothing useful or informative at all. Just meaningless waffle, designed to skirt around the issues at hand. If that's all we can expect from the leader of Highland Council, then it's a very poor show indeed.”
Mrs Jones sent an open letter to Jacqui Hutchinson in which she asked how long the “options appraisal” will take for the reinstatement of services in the far north. “Haven't parent-carers like myself waited long enough? Four years to be precise,” she wrote.
“When you get the results of any such appraisal, and/or the results of any further surveys, what exactly are you going to do? Sit and look at the figures again, like you've already done with the figures from your own survey from last year?”
She mentioned an “empty pledge” by the council in 2022 stating that "a two-bed respite provision is being looked at" and how this was reiterated at a meeting on April 8 and then at Wednesday night’s meeting.
Mrs Jones said she had returned home from the meeting to her home in Thurso feeling despondent but had to switch back to caring mode as a mother of two autistic children. “Here I am, devoting hours of unpaid time fighting and chasing for what is, essentially, a very basic service.
“I have a life sentence. I can never escape the disability that has entered my life through my two autistic children. Why don't you take parent-carers like myself seriously, and start helping us, rather than obstructing us with excuses and half-truths?”
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The council, in its pursuit of an overnight short break facility in Caithness, is reviewing options with a broad range of partners.
“These options will be thoroughly evidence-based, drawing on the most reliable and up-to-date data available. Importantly, there has been no decision to permanently close down Thor House.
“We are also working closely with a member of the Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign group and hope to work with other carers in improving options for parents and carers requiring short breaks.”
