The Minister for Education, the Hon Prof John Cortes today met with representatives of parents of children at St Martin’s School, as part of a series of regular meetings where a wide range of matters are discussed, including work on developing a Gibraltar Special Educational Needs Strategy.

Today’s meeting followed a meeting several weeks ago with the Chief Minister and is in advance of a further meeting with the Chief Minister arranged for next week. The plan is to develop and agree a strategy which will ensure that pupils and former pupils from St Martin’s are afforded joined-up care by all relevant agencies.

The Minister this morning also met a group who had walked to No 6 Convent Place to ask for such a strategy, and accepted a letter from them on behalf of the Chief Minister. At this afternoon’s meeting the Minister formally replied to the group’s representatives who are actively involved in the work on the Strategy. He commented, “This morning I thanked the group for the letter and reminded them that there are ongoing discussions with the Chief Minister which involve their representatives. This afternoon we continued to make good progress, and we will continue our regular meetings until the Strategy is finalised. The Government is committed to developing a robust strategy that will meet the needs of these children and their families.”