Latest news with #EducationHealthandCarePlan
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Views sought on specialist school expansion plan
People are being asked for their views on the expansion of a Wolverhampton special school for children with complex and profound learning difficulties. The capacity of Green Park School, on Green Park Avenue in Bilston, could increase by 27 places to a total of 174 from September 2027, under council plans. It follows multi-million pound proposals, backed by City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet last summer, to increase places in both state and specialist settings. The council said the extra provision could meet a rising demand for provision for children with special educational needs (SEND). The school's pupils are aged between three and 19 and taught in classes of up to nine, according to its SEND information report. All are either under assessment or have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The council said it was working closely with the provider on proposals and welcomed public feedback. Councillor Jacqui Coogan said there had been a "marked increase" in the number of children with EHCPs requiring suitable provision. She added the council's expansion programme, which includes plans to increase specialist places at Westcroft School, Ormiston New Academy and Palmers Cross Primary, would enable more students to reach their potential. The consultation over Green Park School will run until 6 July. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Schools' expansion will help meet demand - council Teacher 'honoured' to receive national award Council praised for improvements in SEND provision City of Wolverhampton Council
ITV News
02-06-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Rise in school absence among autistic kids leaves Wirral family at breaking point
A growing number of children with special educational needs are missing out on school across the North West, with many families reporting long waits for support and diagnoses. Among them is 15-year-old Charlie Jones from Wallasey, who hasn't attended school in two months. He's one of thousands of autistic pupils struggling to access mainstream education, a trend experts say reflects broader challenges in the system, not just individual cases. 'I love learning,' Charlie says. 'I just want to do it in the right environment.' Charlie has been waiting more than two years for an autism diagnosis. His parents, Michelle and Dave, say school became overwhelming, and the lack of timely support left them with no choice but to remove him. 'We've had to work it all out ourselves - what he needs, how to apply for help, how to keep him learning while holding down jobs,' says Michelle. 'It's felt like a constant uphill climb.' Charlie's Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), which outlines additional support for his education, was only issued this year, after the legal deadline had passed. While it's a vital step, his parents feel it came too late to prevent disruption. Wirral City Council have since apologised for the late entry of the EHCP, which it says was caused by an error in Charlie's date of birth on the form. Figures suggest Charlie's situation is not unique. In the 2023–24 academic year, 8,090 autistic pupils in the North West were persistently absent from school, up from 2,534 in 2017–18. That's a 219% increase over five years. Wirral Council currently has the highest rate of persistent absence among autistic pupils in the region. A recent Ofsted report acknowledged 'longstanding failings' in provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In a statement, Wirral Council said: 'In September 2024, Wirral Council committed to an additional £2.8m in recurrent funding to increase the size of its statutory SEND service, doubling the size of the team of caseworkers. The new service, SENDSTART, has been fully staffed since January 2025 and whilst this has yet to have an impact of 20-week compliance rates, the number of Education, Health and Care Plans being finalised has increased significantly. In both months March and April this year, more children had their EHCPs finalised than the totality of the sixth months previous. 'The Local Area Partnership understands there is much more remaining to be done until it is providing consistently good support and services to children and young people with SEND but is committed to doing so. A new SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy and Joint Commissioning Plan are about to be launched, outlining priorities and improvements to be made over the next three years. It is through the partnerships across agencies, and mostimportantly, with dynamic parent carer groups that we will make this change for the benefit of our children and their futures.' Charities agree that the system is under strain. Danae Leaman-Hill from Ambitious About Autism says: 'There are more children needing support than ever before. Services are stretched, but that doesn't change the fact that these are formative years, and delays can have long-term consequences.' A spokesperson for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said:" Responding to feedback from parents, families, and children and young people, we are launching a new neurodevelopmental pathway and vision for neurodiversity services across Cheshire and Merseyside in June 2025. Schools will be supported by the NHS and Local Authorities to be trained in the use of the 'This Is Me' profiling tool to better understand the child's needs - leading to a targeted early support offer in response to those needs. "This work is part of our 'Partnerships for the Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools' (PINS) programme, which builds schools' capacity to support the needs of neurodiverse children. "This is an important step forward, but we know that there is still plenty of work to be done.' For Charlie, the hope is that the system will catch up with him and others. He's currently waiting to hear if he's been accepted into a new school that may better suit his needs. 'We're hopeful,' says Dave. 'We just want him to have the chance to thrive.'
BBC News
13-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Liverpool: £37m allocated to build new SEN school in West Derby
Almost £40m is to be allocated to fund the construction of a brand new primary school in Liverpool to support children with special educational needs (SEN). Pupils at the existing Princes School are spread across four sites which have been described as unsuitable and in "poor condition", including the main one in City Council's cabinet is to be asked to back the £37m investment into the purpose-built facility for 250 pupils on long-derelict land off Princess Drive in West than 30 classrooms would be created on one level with hygiene rooms and hoist access, along with two hydrotherapy pools and rebound and multisensory rooms. The city council said the current main locations for SEN pupils were "not suited to the complex needs of the pupils or the growing demand of the service needs to provide sufficient places within the city for pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)". Satellite sites In Liverpool, pupils with an EHCP has risen by 50% in the four years since 2020, the Local Democracy Reporting Service case for a new school was made several years ago and needs to be delivered "as quickly as possible", according to the city's own along with the main Princes School site on Selborne Street and Picton site, there are an additional two cohorts being managed on satellite sites on Dingle Lane and Overbury Street. The Toxteth and Picton sites are described as "nearing the end of their functional life" but remain safe to use for the time being. The proposed new site on Colwell Road was formerly a primary school but has remained vacant since its demolition in funding is expected to be agreed when the cabinet meet on Tuesday. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
19-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Horsham woman's son missed learning due to 'discrimination'
A deaf woman from Sussex, who says her autistic son missed years of secondary school, has accused West Sussex County Council (WSCC) of discrimination and Pilgrim, from Horsham, says Matt's care plan was never suitable, but she felt excluded from discussing it when he was at primary school, because she wasn't provided with a qualified British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter."The school head teacher at the time said it's too expensive, we can't afford it. I said what about my rights?", she and The Kemnal Academies Trust, which runs Hilltop Primary in Crawley, said they couldn't comment on individual cases. A spokesperson from the trust said: "Our school's priority is and has always been the education and wellbeing of our pupils."We work with our pupils and their families to ensure necessary accommodations are provided in line with a pupil's Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)."The latest Ofsted inspection of Hilltop Primary School found that pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Send) achieve "extremely well as a consequence of staff's expert approach to meeting their needs." 'Stress, discrimination, neglect' Ms Pilgrim says Matt was issued with an EHCP at primary school in 2011. An EHCP is a legal document setting out the support a child via a qualified BSL interpreter, she said the plan was unchanged for nine years with no annual review."It's had a huge impact on my mental health. The stress, the discrimination, the neglect, to me and to Matt, because there was just no help, no support for us," she said. Matt, who's now 18, said he missed out on four years of secondary education, which was very said: "I never thought, during that time, that I would get my education and GCSEs again, which was really sad."Matt is now studying happily for GCSEs at Brighton College under an Education Other than At School (EOTAS) support plan, after Ms Pilgrim paid for a private consultant to engage with West Sussex County Pilgrim said she was considering making a formal complaint to the council, and was speaking out to warn other families facing similar a statement West Sussex County Council said it had implemented a Send improvement plan."We acknowledge the frustrations felt by some families trying to access Send support and express our sympathies to those who are dealing with especially complex circumstances."We, along with local authorities across the country are facing significant pressures in meeting the increasing demand for Send provision."
BBC News
28-01-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Parents take council to court in SEN funding row
Parents from Devon are taking Devon County Council to the High Court in a row over special educational needs (SEN) services and millions of pounds of was one of the councils that agreed a deal in March to get about £95m from the government to try to resolve a massive deficit due to overspending on SEN sets of unnamed parents from Devon are now arguing the deal involved the council agreeing to make cuts to SEN services without any consultation with families or examining the long-term implications for agreeing the deal, Devon County Council has repeatedly overspent on SEN services - by £15m in the first six months, with the figure continuing to increase. Devon County Council has been contacted with a request for comment. The number of children in Devon with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) - a legal document that outlines a child's special educational needs - more than doubled in six years from just over 3,700 in January 2017 to 8,400 in January Solicitors are representing the families from Devon and a family from Bristol in the Judicial Review being heard at Bristol High legal firm said it was a "pivotal" case which marked a "critical moment for SEN families across the UK".Beverley Watkins, managing partner, said: "This case is about ensuring that the voices of parents and children with SEN are heard."Decisions that impact such critical areas of support must be made transparently and with a full understanding of their consequences."The Judicial Review is due to last two to three days and a judgement could be handed down at the end of the hearing or at a later date.
