Latest news with #SEND
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
SEND assessment delay 'prolonged injustice' for mum
"Significant delays" by a council in assessing a child's special educational needs caused his mother "prolonged injustice", a government watchdog has ruled. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered Slough Borough Council to pay her £1,000 for delays and lack of communication. Its report said the council's faults had caused her "significant distress and frustration". The council said it acknowledged the findings of the report and had complied with all of its recommendations. The mother, named as Ms X in the ombudsman's report, asked the council to update her son B's education health and care plan (EHCP) in March 2024. This is a legal document reviewed annually that sets out what a council has to do to meet a child's special educational needs. She wanted the council to update B's EHCP with information from a private occupational therapist's assessment she had sourced, and asked if it could reimburse her for the cost. Ms X then complained "shortly after" about the time the council had taken to update B's EHCP after a review in October 2023, and asked for a personal budget to pay for his occupational therapy. The council replied that B's annual review would take place in April, that she could discuss a personal budget then, and that it might need to take 14 weeks to reassess his needs. The council also said it had "not yet decided" whether to reimburse Ms X for the private occupational therapist's assessment. B's annual review took place in April and the council wrote to Ms X in June saying it had prepared an amended plan, that it would reimburse her for the occupational therapist's assessment and reassess B's needs. In response to her complaint, Slough Borough Council said it would consider her request for a personal budget. It accepted there had been delays in updating B's plan and securing a decision around the private occupational therapist funding. When the council did issue an updated ECHP in September 2024 the reassessment had still not taken place – and was ongoing at the time of the ombudsman's decision in March this year. The council 'said waiting for the outcome of the private OT's review, had delayed this consideration'. The ombudsman ruled this delay was "especially severe" and the the council should pay Ms X £750. In addition, the ombudsman said there was a "lack of communication! from the council in explaining its decision whether to award Ms X a personal budget, and that there was a delay in deciding whether to reimburse her for the private assessment. It said the council should pay Ms X a further £250 for these. The council said: "We are conscious of historic failings and delays within parts of our SEND service and recognise the impact this has had on some families. "In response, we have taken clear steps to strengthen the service — including increasing staffing capacity, improving oversight, and ensuring Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessments are completed in a more timely and consistent way." It added: "We remain committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and to working closely with families to provide the support they need." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Authority to pay £11,750 over special needs case Council to pay £6,500 after failing autistic child SEND delay 'horrible' for boy, 11 Mother awarded £9,400 over education battle for son Slough Borough Council Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Gulliver's Valley theme park building may become SEND school
A building at Gulliver's Valley theme park, near Sheffield, could be turned into a school for up to 50 pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).Five Rivers Child Care Ltd has applied to change the building's use from resort services and storage to a school, creating around 40 jobs and meeting local demand for SEND places, it Metropolitan Borough Council has a waiting list for SEND places, with many local children sent to schools outside the area, causing disruption and additional costs for families and the proposed River Valley School would support children aged six to 18 for an initial period of seven years. The proposed school would occupy Unit D - a large warehouse-style building within the theme park complex off Mansfield school would be Ofsted-regulated and, if approved, would create about 40 jobs for teachers, support workers, caretakers and administrative staff, the application Valley would retain a small storage area within the unit for use during busy holiday periods, while the rest of the space would be adapted to form classrooms and spaces for staff training, therapy and family support. Five Rivers, which operates eight similar schools, said pupils would benefit from outdoor therapy, resources at the nearby Skills Street education centre and attractions at Gulliver's location, on the former Pithouse West site - close to the M1 and A57, has been chosen to provide easy access for staff and students who cannot travel easily by public transport, the application stated.A plan to promote more sustainable travel options has also been developed, along with proposals for more pedestrian crossings, footpaths, a drop-off area, electric vehicle charging points, disabled parking spaces, and cycle and interested parties are able to comment on the planning application on the council's website until 17 June, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Cheshire East Council: Rising adult care costs behind overspend
Soaring demand for adult social care has played a large part in Cheshire East Council (CEC) overspending its budget, the local authority has government has stepped in to grant the council £17.6m in exceptional financial support (EFS) for said it would use the funding arrangement to balance its books for the financial the largest overspend has been in adult social care, the council also said there were pressures in children's services and rising borrowing costs associated with funding pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). EFS allows councils to use a system known as capitalisation, which can allow them to borrow money or treat some day-to-day spending - known as revenue costs - as longer-term capital such, it essentially gives local authorities more flexibility about budget has faced financial difficulties in recent years, with the government recently issuing a formal notification of its year, the council signed off a transformation plan which aimed to save nearly £100m. 'Rising borrowing costs' In a report to councillors, CEC said the £17.6m adult social care overspend was down to rising costs of individual placements.A £3.5m overspend in children's services was attributed to there being more youngsters in care, the use of agency staff, and rising home-to-school transport council said it had come in under budget in a number of areas, chiefly in staffing while there had been an underspend in its highways and transport department, car parking revenues had been lower than services for SEND children are funded through a Dedicated Schools Grant, Cheshire East currently has a deficit in this area, meaning that the borrowing costs to provide them have been forced approved by councillors at a meeting on 3 June, £9.8m of the £17.6m EFS money will be allocated towards meeting the 2024-25 is proposed that £5.3m will be put in an earmarked reserve to cover the costs of CEC's current change programme, while the remaining £2.5m will go into the council's general this year it was announced that CEC was granted £25.3m in EFS for the 2025-26 financial year. See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Thousands of youngsters with SEND to get more support in finding work experience
Ministers are driving ahead with efforts to help more youngsters get valuable skills for work amid a shocking one in eight young people not in employment, education or training Thousands of young people with special educational needs will get more support in securing work experience after a £12million funding boost. Some 4,500 people with SEND will get employment experience after the Department for Education today extended the 'supported internships' programme. As part of efforts to help more youngsters get valuable skills for work, 16-24 year olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be able to secure a work placement which is supported by a job coach. The job coach provides tailored in-work support to the intern, including checking their understanding of tasks and providing training. They also work with the employer to help them understand the intern's needs and how to approach them. Work experience will include placements in hospitals, supermarkets, banks and more. Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell told The Mirror: 'Devastatingly, according to Impetus, young people with SEND are 80% more likely to not be in employment, education or training. "For thousands of young people, this means losing out on opportunities to get on in life, as well as missing out on a sense of community and independence. We're committed to turning this around.' The £12m funding injection for this year alone is far more than £18m previously invested in the programme over the past three years. Half of the funding - £6m - will go towards piloting supported internships in at least 12 local authorities with young people who don't have an EHCP, but who have learning difficulties or disabilities and are furthest from the labour market. It is double the £3m that was committed for the first two years of the pilot. An EHCP is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. The work experience announcement comes after ministers earlier this week set out plans to train more brickies, carpenters and healthcare support workers by creating 120,000 new career-supporting opportunities. Under the plans, the apprenticeship budget for 2025-26 has for the first time been lifted to more than £3billion - up from last year's £2.73billion. The efforts are part of a drive to get more young people into a job amid a shocking one in eight young people not in employment, education or training. Elsewhere ministers have also today pledged £9.5m in funding for a neurodiversity inclusion programme in schools. The scheme involves training teachers to identify and better meet children's needs. Around 300,000 children, including those with conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, will benefit from the programme. Ms McKinnell added: 'The number of young people struggling to secure work opportunities is a clear symptom of a SEND system that isn't supporting children early in life to build the skills they need. 'That's why we're also taking action to make sure that support is there from the very earliest years, so that those who are struggling with everything from speech and language to autism and ADHD, are able to achieve and thrive.'
The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- The Irish Sun
I was THROTTLED by boy, 14, in front of my class – but was hauled in front of jobsworth school bosses who disciplined ME
A TEACHER was disciplined by jobsworth school bosses after refusing to teach a pupil who throttled her in front of her class, she claims. Mum Laura Linklater was so traumatised by the incident in Bradford, West Yorkshire, she quit her job and now 3 Laura Linklater 'got in trouble' for refusing to teach her attacker Credit: Laura Linklater 3 Laura's attacker returned to her form group the next week without any warning Credit: Getty The 40-year-old said her teacher training did not 'prepare me to handle' such a To make matters worse, she said the following week the While teaching the Year 10 class, Laura said one pupil suddenly became aggressive. She told The Sun: 'He was really tall, really big and very angry. Read more News 'He came into my class one day barging 'Suddenly, he had me up against the classroom wall Laura described how a 'I was left shaking,' she said. Most read in The Sun She went on to say: 'I was only told he'd been 'dealt with', before he turned up to my registration class next Monday, without a "I refused to teach the student. I didn't blame him; but I refused to have my aggressor in my classroom.' Boy, 7, in school 'knife attack' bid In a subsequent meeting with a superior, she claims she was told 'it's your job' to teach the teenager, and so she threatened to quit. 'He (a superior staff member) found this shocking, and I got in trouble for refusing to teach my attacker.' She added: 'I was having to fight for my Laura said after the meeting: 'I held my tears in long enough to find a classroom to After the meeting, a 'But that was only because of the exceptional kindness of this individual.' Months after the incident in late 2012 she left her job, describing the incident as 'the last straw'. Laura added: "My decision to "You'd be stunned by the number of home educators who are teachers - who've seen the system from the inside out and don't want their kids to go through it." I held my tears in long enough to find a classroom to cry in. Laura Linklater former teacher A survey last month by the NASUWT teachers' union shows that Laura's experience is shockingly common in the profession. It showed that two fifths of school teachers have experienced In detail, 20% of the survey's 5,800 respondents said they had experienced being hit or The results also suggested that such abuse is set to get worse, with a staggering 81% of teachers believing the number of pupils showing violent and abusive behaviours had increased. Thankfully, Laura had received basic self defence training while doing a previous job at PREVENT, working with She fears without this previous training, she would not have been able to keep her attacker away until he was removed. Laura explained: 'My PGCE training did not prepare me to handle kids who towered over me. 'I was given one day of theory-based Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) lectures. 'You come out of it blinking in the sun, with no idea what you're doing.' My teen's school referred me to the POLICE because of a few sick days – I'm fuming but people ask why I'm kicking off By Kate Kulniece A MUM has revealed she's been Mum Sara Louise took to TikTok to rant after being notified that the authorities would be coming to do a welfare check on her child, who is in Year 10. The furious mum explained that her daughter has ''some additional needs'' - which Sara felt like were ''not met by the school''. In ''I only had phone calls to check in and see if she was okay. Some of them I didn't even answer,'' Sara said in The outraged mum went on: ''This term, she's been off for 11 days and they've rung me twice in the 11 days. ''And today, when I answered the phone call, she asked me if she could come out and do a welfare check - and I kindly declined. ''I said 'No, I don't want you to come to my house','' Sara said, adding that her teenager was ''absolutely fine'' and didn't ''want any interaction with the school''. Under the Education (Penalty Notices) Regulations, schools usually consider a welfare check when a child has missed 10 school sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absences within a rolling 10-week period. Schools may conduct a welfare check sooner if they have concerns about a child's wellbeing, even if the absence is shorter. Before a home visit, schools will usually try to contact the parents first to understand the reason for the absence. ''I'm fuming. Because I have now declined, they're telling me that they have a duty of care - which is fine - and safeguarding and all the rest of it, to come out and do this check.'' Sara, who is in the process of moving her daughter to another school, noted that getting the police involved felt as if she was ''hiding'' and ''abusing'' the child. ''I know they haven't said that - but the way that comes across is, like, sinister.'' Despite the school notifying Sara, the mum said there was no chance she was going to the child's school to let them know the daughter was fine ''when she's fine''. ''And there's not a cat in hell's chance that they're coming to my house to see that she's fine.'' The furious mother, who insisted the school had never given ''a s**t'' about her daughter, knew there'd be backlash after posting the clip - but said she didn't ''give a crap''. If the authorities do show up, Sara said she'd be having the conversation with the police from her camera. ''This is what you get for doing what's right for your kid.'' Despite the incredibly high rate of pupil assaults, no mandatory training exists for teachers to deal with violent assault, sexual harassment or sexual assault from pupils. Jennifer Moses, National Official For Equalities and Training at the NASUWT explained: 'Schools are only obligated and trained to deal with pupil-on-pupil or staff-on-pupil violence and 'Schools should have something in their anti-bullying policies or staff handbooks that addresses violence and harassment from pupils, but this is not nationally addressed. "There may be schools that provide this specific training, but I would guess it is very limited, and I am not aware of any such schools.' In a situation where The 2023 NASUWT Behaviour in Schools Report showed that just 55% of teachers reported behavioural incidents to their manager within their school or college. Of those who did not report such behaviours, 36% felt their capability would be called into question as a result. In March, another NASUWT survey showed that nearly half (49%) of female teachers had experienced physical abuse or More than double the number of female teachers said they had been hit or punched by pupils (36%) compared to their male counterparts (13%). This kind of violence is often embedded in 'Amy', a former primary school teacher in London who has chosen to remain She said: 'I was teaching a year 3 class, and a 'This boy refused to take any authority from women, and frequently called me a 'black b****'. 'He kept telling me: 'I'm going to hit you, I'm going to hit you.' 'Then he pulled out a pair of scissors and attacked me with them. 'It was only because we had a 'I'm only 5'2' and this boy was incredibly strong. 'Had the TA not been there, this boy could have run out of the school gates with these scissors.' This boy refused to take any authority from women, and frequently called me a 'black b****'. 'Amy' former teacher Training and support for this teacher were, again, worryingly absent in the aftermath of this attack. 'I had absolutely no training for these kinds of incidents,' Amy said. 'After the attack, the teaching assistant asked if I was OK, but there was no 'The lack of help was so normalised that it's only now that I realise I should have been better protected by the school. 'The only feedback I received was the mother of the child on the phone having a right go at me. 'There's no way I would ever go back into teaching of any form because of my experiences - I don't want to be in those environments. 'I don't know how to keep myself safe.' Pupils armed with weapons The April NASUWT survey showed teachers reporting attacks from pupils with more than just classroom scissors - using weapons such as Again this is not limited to secondary schools, as Amy recalls a year 6 student Many teachers feel that while the behaviour of pupils is getting worse, the tools and deterrents they have available to them to maintain order in classrooms are becoming increasingly scarce. "We can't use language like ' She added: 'When I started teaching, you could take designated 'Now there's not a chance you could have that kind of system in place - you can't have anything where you are seen to be punishing or 'When there's no sanctions, when everything has to be positive the whole time, there's no way of managing the class. 'One of the things that schools did have for really bad behaviour situations or children that were repeated offenders, is that they could 'But now, schools are reluctant to exclude kids - because from the top down, they were instructed to reduce the total number of exclusions.' Susan found the consequences of this toothless sanction system were She said: 'I experienced a range of behaviours from 'This included being physically pushed, kicked or spat at. 'I've been in situations where I've had to 'It didn't matter what stage of school you taught at, you could still be assaulted. 'It was scary, even if they were little, because there's so much 'Students wouldn't have to apologise for an attack on a teacher, especially if they have an additional support need.' In 2024, 40.5% of all pupils in 'As soon as a child has an additional support need, it's like you can't separate that need from She added: 'I believe we've got a proportion of children who are diagnosed with having an additional support need, when they have a behaviour issue.' Susan also noticed a A study for the children's commissioner for England in 2023 found that a quarter of 16-25 year olds in the UK had first seen pornography while in primary school, leading to a normalisation of 'There's a lot more primary school children making inappropriate comments against teachers - it was 'I definitely think, you know, part of that problem is because of the rise in social media and children having access to devices much younger.' 'There's a dislike for females and it's obviously derived a lot from Susan quit teaching just before the start of COVID to start a tutoring service, as she felt that as a regular teacher she was spending far more time managing behaviour than actually 'I love 'I felt a lot of the time in the classroom that I was 'Teachers nowadays do much more 'We're the front line for everything, but we're also the first person that gets shot when something doesn't go right. 'I hear from my ex-colleagues who are still teaching that post COVID, it's got much, much worse. 'The demands on teachers have massively gone up, but the funding and support hasn't - if anything, they've been The Sun has approached Laura's former school for comment. Do you have a similar story? Email 3 Two fifths of school teachers have experienced physical abuse or violence by pupils in the last 12 months Credit: Getty
