Latest news with #SpecialEducationalNeeds
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Teachers quitting in droves as system is 'broken' and failing our children
Teachers are quitting their jobs in droves because of a 'broken' Special Educational Needs (SEN) system, which they say is failing thousands of children A SENCO assistant in a mainstream school until last month, Amy Ovenden resigned as she felt she could 'no longer sit by and stay silent" and she's not the only teacher campaigning for change in the education system. Going public with her letter, she says: ''When I posted my resignation letter I never did so with the intention of having others join me, but the response was significant.' Amy, 33, lives in Maidstone, Kent, with husband Rudi, 34 and their children Leighton, 10, who is autistic and has ADHD, Arabella, eight, and Ronnie, five, who is awaiting an ASD/ADHD diagnosis. Now running an independent advocacy service for parents, she explains: 'Across the country we are seeing this big push to get more children into mainstream school - this is not the right environment for many of them. It comes as a new school term looms ahead and parents are told they can claim £75 towards school uniform. 'Schools are being stripped of more and more funding and early intervention often isn't happening, as parents are being told to wait until school starts to apply for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). That means children are starting school without support. "We just want our children's most basic needs met; that's why we are backing the Fight For Ordinary campaign. I am sharing my story because I felt so silenced throughout my time in education. It is very difficult to work with a system that is failing your own child.' Sharing her resignation letter to 'stop the silence,' former headteacher Sara Donnelly wrote: 'I'm not leaving because I don't care. I'm leaving because I do.' Sara, 42, lives in London with husband Cam and their children Aidan, 13, and Ava, 10, who is autistic and has ADHD. After 14 years working in education as a headteacher, deputy head and assistant head, she now delivers specialist training for schools, practical advocacy for parents and Oliver McGowan training for the NHS. She says: 'I was a headteacher for three years at a mainstream school, - it was a great school – but the education system is not great. Getting the support you want for the children who need it is impossible. There are children who should be in an SEN school, who are not getting additional funding and we are being left to just get on with it. "We had one child who needed 2: 1 support at a cost of 50k – 60k. The options are to not have this child in school - that's morally wrong - potentially bankrupt the school, or take staff from other areas. I was driven to distraction. 'My daughter's mainstream school was brilliant, but it was clear they could only do so much – she was struggling. I found an amazing SEN private school. They confirmed they had space for her, but the local authority didn't want to fund it. In March she stopped going to school altogether. I am angry with the system – it's failing children left, right and centre.' Mum of two Lauren Vermeulen resigned from her London teaching post working in an SEN provision for autistic children, saying the system is 'broken.' Now based in Dorset and working as an SEN consultant and parent advocate she fears that if the needs of SEN children are not met, they may become 'suicidal teenagers' 'As a teacher, I've always strived for inclusion but it's not currently possible; there isn't space for children who don't fit the box,' says Lauren, 33. 'Thousands of children are being failed, parents are being gaslit, the in-between children who don't fit specialist but don't fit mainstream provisions are falling through the gaps.' After 15 years working in education, while society has become more accepting of disability, she says it's also more underfunded. 'We haven't moved with the times because we can't afford to,' she says. The Fight For Ordinary Campaign The three former educators support The Fight For Ordinary Campaign, organised by the Disabled Children's Partnership, Let Us Learn Too and the SEND Sanctuary, which is campaigning for greatly improved SEN support. It will be holding a SEN rally in London's Parliament Square from 11.30 – 2.30 on September 15th. In response to the women's criticisms, a Department for Education spokesperson said: 'This government inherited a SEND system on its knees which is why our Plan for Change has committed to restoring the confidence of families, listening closely to parents as we work to improve experiences and outcomes for children. We are laying the groundwork for reform."
BBC News
7 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Survey will assess Wolverhampton council's SEND provision
Parents in Wolverhampton are being asked to give their feedback in a survey focusing on the city's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) information will help the council evaluate the effectiveness of the services it provides and how it is meeting the needs of children, the authority survey, open until 27 September, looks at 13 key areas of the national SEND and Inclusion Inspection Framework, which covers education, health, and social care April, the service was found to be making "sustainable progress", according to the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England who had been monitoring the authority. Councillor Jacqui Coogan, cabinet member for children, young people and education, said feedback from families and carers was "essential in helping us understand what's working well, and where we can improve further"."The Wolverhampton SEND Local Area Partnership is committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those in alternative provision, and to do this we need to listen to the voices of our families, young people and professionals," she work comes after the authority was was told it must improve its services, following an inspection in 2021 by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Blaming the parents is easier than fixing Britain's special educational needs system
Many parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are likely to be too busy fighting the broken education system to notice they are actually being blamed for it. Their lives are spent constantly having to fight to get what most children and families take for granted – the education their child needs and deserves. For all the talk of parents trying to get special treatment, or a 'golden ticket' for their children, research from the National Autistic Society shows a quarter of parents (26 per cent) waited over three years to receive support for their child. Even after this, nearly three quarters (74 per cent) said their child's school place did not meet their needs. Our SEND system is supposed to provide children with the support they need. But over the last decade and a half, the funding and staff time for mainstream schools to make small changes or bring in support, without needing additional funding through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), has been systematically stripped from the system. When children's needs aren't met, they don't go away, they escalate. The result is that children are pushed ever closer to the brink and then require more intensive support. Getting help in school shouldn't require a child to have a clinical diagnosis. Yet, say that to any parent of a child with SEND and they would rightly laugh in your face, as they often face unlawful refusals from councils to even look at their child's needs until they have a diagnosis. Then the statistics get even more galling. Currently 224,382 people are waiting for an autism assessment in England – that's around the population of Portsmouth. The average waiting time for an assessment is 14 months, with many people waiting even longer. Recently, a woman in Oxford was told she would have to wait 16-18 years. Once a child has a diagnosis, it's far from a 'golden ticket', as so often claimed. Parents of autistic children have to fight, some having to remortgage their house or take out loans, to afford the expensive legal battles that overwhelmingly find in their favour. £60 million of public money was wasted sending families to the independent SEND Tribunal in 2021-22 to enforce their child's legal rights, while 99 per cent of cases in 2023-24 found in favour of parents. If you're looking for real waste in the SEND system, this is a staggering example. To fix the SEND system, support must meet children's needs early on. Imagine how much more our education system, and the children in it, could achieve if we didn't ignore and belittle children that need support. How much more prepared for adult life and all its trials and tribulations a child could be, armed with the knowledge of their autistic identity, rather than being sneered at for 'chasing' a 'label'. How many more families could live in financial security without having to give up work if the system had the resources to approach their requests with options, rather than a closed door. How many more disabled children could walk happily with their brothers and sisters to school, rather than having to rely on school transport for journeys miles and miles away from home. It's right that the Government tries to fix this broken system. It's clear though that any reform should focus on strengthening children's rights to early and less intensive support and making sure teachers are equipped with the knowledge and tools to support kids in their classrooms. Put quite simply: EHCPs aren't the problem in the system. Nor is school transport. The problem is that the system legally responsible for supporting our nation's disabled children is not resourced or equipped to do that. That's why the National Autistic Society will campaign as part of the Disabled Children's Partnership – a coalition of 130 organisations from national charities to grass root parent groups – to get the right reforms from the Government. Families don't want anything 'special', they just want the same thing as other families – the education their children need. Now is the time to get this right, not blame parents and take away children's futures.
New Statesman
07-07-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
SEND: Labour's next backbench battle
Keir Starmer and the Labour government are still smarting from a punishing Commons rebellion over welfare reform. Now, backbenchers are revolting again over Special Educational Needs. Labour are due to release a white paper outlining an overhaul of SEND in October. The government says the provisions need reform – but backbenchers and campaigners are already voicing concern over whether this is a further cost-cutting exercise at the expense of vulnerable people. This comes on the day that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announces a new 'Best Start' scheme to improve families' access to early-years child support. Anoosh Chakelian is joined by Pippa Bailey, Hannah Barnes and Will Dunn to discuss. [See also: The special needs trap] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Sky News
05-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Exclusive: Watchdog upholds nearly 100% of complaints about special educational needs in England
Why you can trust Sky News A watchdog is upholding 96% of the complaints it investigates about the provision of special educational needs in England, according to figures shared exclusively with Sky News. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is the last port of call for families who have exhausted the complaints process at their local council when they cannot get the right support for their children. Amerdeep Somal, who heads the organisation, told Sky News the number of complaints they are receiving about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has also risen almost 250% in the last five years. She said: "Some of those children will never reach their full potential. Often children lose years of their education and their development - sometimes at pivotal stages. "We're seeing complaints about not doing assessments for Education Health and Care Plans, not doing reviews in good time, support specified in the plan not being put into place in schools - and also poor communication so parents don't know what is happening. "There's been a huge surge in demand for plans. That means more complaints. That means more resources. More children need to be assessed, and that means more specialist input in schools. And that hasn't been keeping pace with the demands. "The situation can't continue as it is at the moment - we need radical and urgent reform." In Sefton, 15-year-old Jacob is one of the children who has fallen through the cracks. He has needs, including autism and ADHD, and has not had a consistent school place for four years. His mum, Geraldine Pollock, says schools keep saying they cannot meet his needs, sometimes even after enrolling him. Currently, he has been out of school for over nine months, and Geraldine spends her days trying to teach him at home to the best of her ability. "Absolutely horrific - that is the only word that I can use to describe it. I never, ever envisaged that, as a family, we would be put in this situation," she said. Geraldine says she almost lost her job because she had no option but to care for Jacob herself, and is still only able to work part-time. As soon as Jacob started at his latest school, she asked them to tell her upfront if they would not be able to meet his needs. "I thought, we cannot go back to the dark place that we've been in," she said. "They reassured me they had put everything in place - and they actually hadn't." "When I think of it now, I think 'How I could I be so naive?' I never once thought you would literally be left on your own," she added. David Moorhead is another special needs parent in Sefton, Merseyside, who helps run a group called Voice of the Families, which has come together to push for more help for their children. What started as an informal group for local parents to support each other has now ballooned to more than 500 families. David says he was "gobsmacked" by the number of parents just in his area who all feel their children have been failed. "Parents have left jobs, left careers just to be with their child. One mother had to cancel her own operation because there was no one to look after her child. "Going out for a family meal, going on holiday - these aren't realities because your child needs a lot of attention, a lot support in order for them to flourish. "They just push you off a cliff and you fall - and when you ask for help, it just doesn't come." Sefton Council said in a statement: "We are working with the Voice of the Families group - we have listened to them and understand their concerns and will continue to feed their experiences into our improvements as a service so we can better support families on this journey. "The demand for SEND support and the challenges in the system are seen across the country and we are working hard to meet the growing need for SEND support in Sefton. We have, and will continue to, pursue every avenue to expand our specialist SEND provision to meet the demand in our borough." The Department for Education said it accepts the SEND system needs to be reformed, and is currently consulting on what shape that will take. The government plans to publish a White Paper in the autumn setting out the reforms, and says it recognises the 'immense need' in the sector.
