A Paralympic gold medallist has slammed Hillingdon Council over plans to remove specialist provisions for physically disabled children from an infant school in Pinner, saying she would not have won at London 2012 without it. The proposals from the council have sparked outrage in the local community, leading to a change.org petition with over 700 signatures.
Paralympian Natasha Baker, who went to Coteford Infant School as a child, described council leader Ian Edwards – one of the people who’ll have the final say – as ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’. She said: “He’s clearly not seeing disability. He is clearly not seeing what impact this is going to have, not just for children that are in their care at the moment, but for future children that are still coming into the borough with a physical disability. I just think that so many children are going to suffer from this one decision.”
Hillingdon Council is holding a public consultation about the proposals before making a final decision and a campaign is building steam to prevent it from closing. Coteford Infant School, at risk of losing its SRP (Specialist Resource Provision), was attended by Natasha Baker OBE from 1994.
Natasha has won 10 Paralympic medals, including 6 gold medals in dressage, most recently winning two bronze medals at Paris 2024. She tells the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that this is an issue of ableism.
The council says there is both a declining demand for places at the school, and an expectation that children with physical disabilities should have their needs met in mainstream schools, with reasonable adjustments. Therefore, it is the council’s position that a separate SRP at Coteford is no longer required to meet the needs of these children.
However, campaigners are suspicious of this claim. Natasha said: “I just don’t buy that there’s no demand for it because people are being turned away… but [the number of] people with disabilities aren’t going down, you know, disability is still staying the same – there isn’t suddenly a cure for cerebral palsy. So therefore, how can it be going down when disability is still there and present? Needs are still the same.”
On how she felt when she heard that Coteford may have its SRP removed, Natasha told the LDRS: “[I felt] incredibly sad, hurt, disappointed, really really disappointed. The council were quick to put a plaque on the floor outside Hillingdon [Council offices] after I won gold in 2012, yet they are taking away what enabled me to achieve that.”
Natasha attended both the infant and the junior school at Coteford; 18 years later she would go on to win two gold medals in dressage at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Natasha suffers from a condition called ‘transverse myelitis’ – a rare condition where the spinal cord becomes inflamed which leads to nerve damage. People with transverse myelitis may experience significant pain and find it harder to walk as a result.
Natasha contracted the condition at the age of 14 months, and it left her with permanent nerve damage, severe weakness and a loss of balance and sensation in her legs. This did not stop her from achieving the highest honour an athlete can receive, something she told the LDRS would not have been possible without the SRP at Coteford.
“Oh definitely not. I think that there’s so many elements that have made me into the person I am today, but I think you know we all know how important those early years are that shape you as a person, and that’s why getting the right school for people with disabilities is so crucial.
“I had physio at school, the most incredible physio… and she helped me walk with a rollator, but she also taught me to walk with walking sticks. She was massively part of my progression the whole way through,” she said.
Natasha’s mother, Lorraine Baker told the LDRS it will not just be children affected if the SRP is closed, but their parents too.
She said: “Natasha was getting the education she needed to move forward onto the next stage of her life. She didn’t have to come out of school and miss physio appointments because it was in the school [at Coteford]. So she was never having to miss out on her education… I had enormous fears and concerns when Natasha went to school, but thanks to Coteford I didn’t need to worry.”
Natasha believes there is a clear and obvious lack of understanding from Hillingdon Council on disability, pointing to the threatened closure of the SRP as evidence. She said: “They should go to the school and see what provisions do to help people like me, and all those going through it now.
“There is such a significant lack of understanding on disability, and we make up a huge proportion of the population, but that’s never really understood. And you go into the council, how many people do you see with a disability? And, you know, you see people of different race, of different sexuality, but disability isn’t represented.”
When asked if this is then an issue of ableism, Natasha told the LDRS: “Yeah, I would [describe it as that]. I had a look on the government website. There are provisions for children with autism, there are provisions for children with all sorts of learning difficulties, but the one school that has provisions for physical disabilities is being taken off that list. Make that make sense. Disability hasn’t disappeared.”
A Hillingdon Council spokesperson said: “Pupils at the school with Education, Health and Care Plans are already attending mainstream lessons full time. Unlike a traditional Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) where a specific area of the school is required to be reserved, the provision at Coteford is not a separate learning space and therefore the proposal is not a closure of a specific unit or classroom.
“The proposed changes are purely technical and will not have any impact on the children currently attending the school or ones that wish to attend in the future. The same level of support will be provided and no funding is proposed to be withdrawn.
“The school has seen a decline in its overall pupil numbers which resulted in a consultation being carried out in the autumn term 2022 to reduce its published admission numbers from 81 to 60 from September 2024. Its data also showed that there had been a significant decline in demand for places within the physical disabilities SRP and the school approached the council to request that numbers for the SRP be reduced.
“No decisions have been made and the council will review responses to the consultation carefully before making a decision. Residents have until Friday, October 25 to have their say via the council’s website.”
Philip is a Local Democracy Reporter covering Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow, with a focus on council decisions, housing, planning, licensing and community stories across west London.
