Latest news with #specialeducationalneeds
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Plans to turn Gateshead's Colgate Primary School into SEN school
Plans to turn a closed primary school into a school for children with special educational needs (SEN) are taking a step Primary School in Felling, Gateshead, was transferred to the Cedars Trust to provide 180 places from academy organisation has applied to the council to expand the car park and widen its documents show the school is expecting a high number of children to arrive in vehicles, either with their parents and carers or by home-to-school transport provided by the local authority. The existing car access entrance from High Heworth Lane would be widened to allow for two-way traffic, the documents said, while pedestrian access would remain from Colegate comes after the Labour-led council decided to close the school in September last Primary had been dubbed the council's "most vulnerable school" in official documents, with a projected financial deficit of over £500,000 by 2025-26, according to the Local Democracy Reporting than 2,000 people signed a petition backing calls to keep it open. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
DAN HODGES: I know the real reason Keir Starmer will never set foot in a truly working-class area ever again...
Finally. The Labour Party have discovered the British white working class do exist. Or, at least, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has. 'White working-class children, and those with special educational needs, do exceptionally poorly,' she admits. 'Put simply, these children have been betrayed, left behind in society's rear-view mirror.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Herefordshire cash grants to help children with special needs
More than £46,000 has been awarded to support activities for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Council said cash had been awarded to seven groups for activities to enable children and young people to have fun, make friends and learn new sessions, coding workshops and activities in woodland are among the projects Stroud, from Little Play World, which received a grant, said it would make a difference not only to the children, but also for parents who could take youngsters to a safe space and watch them develop. Councillor Ivan Powell, cabinet member for children and young people, said families would be able to take part in "inclusive fun activities in a safe and supportive learning environment".Organisations that received funds were Dancefest Jigsaw Youth, which provides inclusive dance sessions across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, as well as Herefordshire Autism and Neuro Diverse Support, which provides coding workshops for neurodivergent children and young Community Farm also received a grant, along with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust for its woodland also went to Little Play World which provides pop-up role-play sessions, Look UK which offers family days out for children with visual impairment, and Wordful Speech and Language Therapy Service for its speech and language-focused play sessions for pre-school children. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Slough Borough Council SEND assessment delays criticised in report
"Significant delays" by a council in assessing a child's special educational needs caused his mother "prolonged injustice", a government watchdog has Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered the Slough Borough Council to pay her £1,000 for delays and lack of report said the council's faults had caused her "significant distress and frustration".The BBC has approached the council for comment. 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 is a legal document reviewed annually that sets out what a council has to do to meet a child's special educational 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 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. 'Especially severe' 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 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 response to her complaint, Slough Borough Council said it would consider her request for a personal accepted there had been delays in updating B's plan and securing a decision around the private occupational therapist 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 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 £ 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 said the council should pay Ms X a further £250 for these. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Charity helps Surrey SEND children awaiting places
A charity dedicated to helping inclusion is expanding the help it offers to parents of children with special educational needs (SEND) in said what it calls its "alternative provision" is needed because 248 children in the county are still waiting to hear if they have a school place for September charity's work has set up a new programme in County Council said it has already invested £260m in its SEND programme, and is lobbying central government for wider changes to the system. Challengers supports children from five to 18 and the new project in Guildford is for five to Dearman from the charity told BBC Radio Surrey: "This means they have somewhere to go, that it's not just home. We can help them understand there's a routine."They can play, they can make friends, they can communicate. Without it they would be isolated, their mental health would suffer."We want to get them in a place where they know that when they do find a school placement they're ready and able to integrate into education." Selina Clayton from Ash in Surrey brings her son, who has non-verbal autism to said: "Children can go there with their families and relax and feel welcomed, and take the time to speak to other parents."Their siblings can be with other siblings who understand it." 'Wider changes' A spokesman for Surrey County Council said the number of children in the county with EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans) "has more than doubled between 2018 and 2025, and there are currently over 45,000 children and young people with SEND".They said: "We have invested a total of £260 million in our ambitious SEND and alternative provision programmes, to increase our maintained specialist education estate to about 5,760 places by 2032."We and other bodies are consistently lobbying government for wider system changes, additional funding and urgent reform."
