Published: Thursday, 2nd October, 2008 08:00
Have your say on centre for problem girls
By Annabel Williams
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A CONSULTATION was launched this week on building a centre Reading to educate problem girls.
Reading Girls’ School is seeking the views of staff, parents and pupils on creating a base for girls with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) in its grounds in Northumberland Avenue, Whitley.
The centre, for up to a dozen girls aged 11 to 18, would be the first of its kind in Reading and could open as early as next September.
There is currently no provision for such teenage girls in the borough, although primary-age BESD pupils are taught at The Holybrook School in Southcote and secondary-age boys at Phoenix College in Christchuirch Road.
Some of the youngsters would be taught at the mainstream school and the centre would offer a regular curriculum, alongside “specialist social and emotional aspects of learning”, according to the consultation document.
Students will be “helped to develop self-worth through work on their appearance, their feelings and their attitudes towards themselves and others”, and be “provided with a calm, predictable and secure environment where it will be safe to make and learn from mistakes”.
The centre will cost £500,000 to build, money already set aside in Reading Borough Council’s 2008-09 building programme, with a final decision being made by the authority’s cabinet on February 16.
The consultation, which opened on Monday, runs until November 17, with three opportunities to find out more on Tuesday, October 21, when the school’s conference room will be open to staff, parents and students at 9.30am, 3.30pm and 6pm.
Postal consultation responses should be sent to Civic Centre, PO Box 2623, Reading, RG1 7WA.
For more details, see www.readinggirls.reading.sch.uk/besd/
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