YOUR VIEWS: Inverness children missing out at school and city music recital
Piano recital at the town house
Your readers may be interested in a Beethoven piano concerto to be performed in the town house at 7.30pm on Monday, September 23.
The recital will be given by Nikita Lukinov, who has played here before. In the first half, he will pay works music by Debussy Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky and in the second half he will be joined by a string quartet from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
They will play an arrangement - endorsed by Beethoven - of his wonderful 4th piano concerto.
If this concert is popular, similar arrangements exist of works by Mozart and Chopin which we may investigate.
For tickets, go to www.invernesspianorecitals.com
Paul Crowe
Old Edinburgh Road
Inverness
Vulnerable children missing out
Some of the most vulnerable children in our communities are not getting the extra support they need at school, according to their parents. Concerns have been raised after Highland Council changed the way it allocates resources for additional support needs (ASN) - the term used for the extra help given to some pupils.
“Every day is a fight and where as last year he had a psa (pupil support assistant) for support he now no longer does and it's no wonder he can't cope! It's awful.” - Helen York
“You have to fight for everything.” - Gillian Macdonald
“Highland is without doubt the worst region for children with additional support needs in Scotland. We had to fight for everything and still got very little. My experience started approximately 12 years ago. Secondary school - a very part time school timetable that rendered attendance at school pointless and certainly caused more harm than good at home, due to a complete lack of the right support being in place. The result was leaving the education system completely at age 14 along with several other ASN students whose parents had also come to the end of their tether…The sad thing is that things don’t get any easier at age 16 or 18. If people needed support as children they are very likely to still require it throughout adulthood too but the fight goes on. Families still have to fight for the support they need in this region and most will still fail to get it because it isn’t there. ASN children are not an education system priority in this region, they never have been and likely never will be. The mind truly boggles as to what this particular local authority chooses to prioritise over and above providing vital additional needs support to children.” - Kim Corbett
Letters should be submitted to newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk. Please include your address and a daytime contact number. You can also tweet us: @InvCourier or leave a comment on Facebook @invernesscourier
