The scenes below are based on real events recorded during an investigation into the integration of children with moderate learning difficulties in secondary schools in four Welsh counties. The project was funded by the Welsh Office Education Department (WOED, 1988) and carried out from Cardiff by Professor Graham Upton and Frances Beasley from March 1985 to June 1986. Part of the study, on which the present article is based, focused on local authority policies and the practical implications of these policies for the provisions which they make. Professor Upton is head of the School of Education, Birmingham University, and Frances Beasley is a research fellow at Kent University.