Only in the ACT

From the Canberra Times

ACT Education has suspended a principal and launched an investigation into how a primary school student with special needs and behavioural issues was placed in a cage-like withdrawal space within a classroom.

The structure used metal pool fencing and measured two by two metres.

It is understood the structure was built specifically for the student, believed to be a boy with autism, on March 10. It was dismantled on March 27, the day after the directorate became aware of it.

Diane Joseph from the ACT Education Directorate said it was an isolated example of very poor decision making. 

"The space was basically a fenced-in structure inside a classroom," she said. 

"It was entirely inappropriate and unacceptable, and the structure has been removed. 

"The decision to erect such a structure raises so many questions.

"This is not how our students should be treated."

The withdrawal space was built for a particular student, but the Directorate conceded it did not know if it had been used for other students.

The investigation will be conducted by someone independent of the ACT Education and Training Directorate.

IPods

With my daughters help and using her Apple laptop I downloaded some new audiobooks that the kids can listen too next term on our iPods. I hope they enjoy the new stories. ( They are quite expensive but I found a few gems which were quite cheap, such as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and a few others that were very cheap- but none for free!)