ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on research in a school in central England which caters for around 170 pupils aged between 3 and 19 years, described as ‘children with significant and complex special educational needs’. The area the school is in was identified in 1999 as one of the poorest regions in Europe. Since 2002, when our three year involvement with the school began, there has been constant talk of ‘urban renaissance’. Local and regional government strategic effort has been aimed at reducing deprivation in the area to create a better quality of life for the people who live there. Pittlesden School is the only ‘special’ school left in the local authority, but in keeping with local emphasis on new and higher aspirations for all citizens, it comes as no surprise that this segregated school, for some of the most deprived and excluded children in Europe, has an explicit commitment to promote inclusion for all of its pupils.
