TYMES TRUST ALERT
1st June 2008

Jane Colby
Executive Director
The Young ME Sufferers Trust
www.tymestrust.org

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GOVERNMENT THANKS TRUST FOR INPUT TO NEW EDUCATION WHITE PAPER

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The Government has thanked The Young ME Sufferers Trust for our input into
the new Education White Paper 'Back on Track : A strategy for modernising
alternative provision for young people'. We are pleased to note the
inclusion of virtual education in the White Paper.

At the invitation of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools Lord
Adonis, the Trust's Founder Patron Lord Clement-Jones, Chair Keith Harley,
Executive Director Jane Colby and Director of the Nisai Virtual Academy
Dhruv Patel met with the Deputy Director of the Special Educational Needs
and Disability Division of the Department of Children Schools and Families.

We presented the results of the education partnership between the Trust and
the NVA in which children with ME obtained higher grades and better overall
results using interactive virtual education than did healthy children
attending school.

We also explained that children's educational rights are often over-ridden
by the way in which their condition is medically managed.

The White Paper states: 'Where a pupil remains in alternative provision
because they are not ready to be re-integrated to a mainstream or special
school, it is essential that they nonetheless receive an education that puts
them on the path to success in adulthood. This is not just the right thing
for them, but for their local community and for society more widely.'

It continues '...we must learn from the best and support innovation.'

Chapter 7, 'Learning from the best and supporting innovation' speaks of
'building on what works'.

The Deputy Director of the SEN and Disability Division has written to Lord
Clement-Jones: 'the meeting we held did inform our thinking. Please see
Chapter 7 (from page 50) onwards where you will see in para 7.4 a commitment
to run innovative pilot projects for alternative provision, including:
"e-learning and virtual provision, particularly for pupils who cannot attend
school due to health needs."'

The Trust has been invited to respond to the White Paper.

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Jane Colby is Executive Director of The Young ME Sufferers Trust.
She was a Headteacher for nine years, a member of the government
Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on CFS/ME and co-authored
ME/CFS In UK Schools, the largest epidemiological study of ME to
date. She is a member of the National Association of Educational
Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants (now ASPECT), a life member
of the National Association of Head Teachers and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts.

Copyright (c) 2008 The Young ME Sufferers Trust