Latest news with #SEND
BBC News
a day ago
- General
- BBC News
Plans for new Derby school revealed by council
Plans for a new school to help children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Derby have been City Council has submitted a planning application to permanently make the upper floors of St James House in Mansfield Road a new education authority said it hoped the building could accommodate about 100 pupils in the long property was recently used temporarily by St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy in the aftermath of a serious fire. The council's planning documents state: "The proposal directly responds to the urgent and growing demand for specialist education provision within Derby. "The city has seen an increasing need for facilities tailored to young people with social, emotional, and mental health needs."A final decision on the plans could be made later this summer, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.
The Sun
2 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
Education Secretary unveils £1.7million boost for pupils with special needs in win for The Sun's Give It Back campaign
THE Sun's Give It Back campaign was hailed by the Education Secretary yesterday, as she unveiled a £1.7million boost for pupils with special needs. Funds announced by Bridget Phillipson allow up to 4,000 schools to borrow tech such as reading pens and iPads. 2 2 The 'lending libraries' pilot will cover 32 local authorities, giving schools access to devices tailored to pupils' needs. Reading pens scan and vocalise text, while tablets help non-verbal students communicate with images. In school trials, 86 per cent of staff saw behavioural improvements. It came as figures showed the number of kids with Education, Health and Care Plans — which detail extra supports needed by pupils — surged by 11 per cent to 638,700. Our campaign calls on the Government to give funding to council budgets for social care and support for disabled children. Ms Phillipson said too many were not having their needs identified early enough. She added: 'We inherited a SEND system on its knees, and at the heart of these figures are families fighting for support that should just be readily available. 'Too many children are not having their needs identified at an early enough stage, creating a vicious cycle of overwhelmed local services and children's support needs escalating to crisis point. 'We're improving things right now and will break this vicious cycle with wide-ranging reform.' Ms Phillipson said extra funding in schools — such as for wheelchair ramps — was 'supporting the goals of The Sun's Give it Back campaign'.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
'Lessons learned' by Leeds council after school closure U-turn
A council has said it will learn lessons after it was forced to reverse its plan to close a primary City Council had intended to shut Queensway Primary, in Yeadon, after saying a decline in pupil numbers and financial pressures had put its long-term sustainability at the authority was forced to shelve the plan after parents launched a legal challenge over the way a consultation was carried out ahead of the a set of recommendations to improve future school consultations have been published in a "lessons learned" report by the council. The report found that parents, school staff and councillors felt the consultation period was not long enough, although meetings were held in the run-up to the also said the plan had caused "stress and upset for children, their families and the wider community", particularly as they faced a similar closure threat in added that it had also caused concern over the welfare of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. At a children and families meeting earlier, Otley & Yeadon councillor Ryk Downes said: "Parents were coming to me saying they couldn't find alternative places for their children based on their SEND needs."We have got to sort out the problem of pupil numbers in Aireborough but at the moment the solution isn't there."Councillors were told that a wider "area-based" approach to the decline in pupil numbers would be taken moving Mark Duce, who has been at the school for four years, announced last week he and other staff had taken the difficult decision to leave the school due to a "lack of clarity provided regarding the long-term future of Queensway". Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
ITV News
2 days ago
- Health
- ITV News
Lack of SEND provision is one of most common complaints received by MPs, an ITV News survey shows
The lack of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across England is one of the most common complaints in MP's inboxes, a survey by ITV News can reveal. In an anonymous survey sent to all MPs, 70% of the 85 respondents said issues related to special educational needs and disabilities were now among the top five queries from constituents. In addition, 62% said SEND was coming up more than twice a week in their inboxes – with 17% saying it was now a daily occurrence. The MPs who responded identified issues related to Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP's) – the legal document outlining the necessary support for SEND children - as the most reoccurring complaint, followed by concerns over appropriate school places and lack of support from local authorities. ITV News' findings come as the government is preparing to reform SEND support, with an update expected in the autumn in the school's white paper. Demand for SEND provisions has surged in recent years. More than 1.7 million pupils in England now have special educational needs, up 5.6 per cent from last year. Meanwhile, a growing number of parents are having to fight local authorities for support, with 24,000 SEND tribunals recorded in 2024/5 - a 36 per cent increase from the last financial year. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says Labour inherited 'a SEND system on its knees" with too many children "not having their needs identified at an early enough stage, creating a vicious cycle of overwhelmed local services and children's support needs escalating to crisis point." According to Department for Education statistics published on Thursday, the number of children with EHCPs increased to increased to 638,700 - as of January 2025, meanwhile only 46% of plans were issued within the required 20 week deadline. Government officials told ITV News there remains an active debate about the implementation of EHCPs. 'It currently takes hundreds of bits of paperwork and long delays for a child simply to be advised to see a speech therapist - there needs to be a more efficient way,' one source said. ITV News understands there are concerns within the Department for Education about how to pitch any possible reforms to parents - with officials acknowledging many have had to fight 'tooth and nail' for the little support they have. Following reports that changes to support are under discussion, a petition urging the government to 'retain the legal right to assessment and support in education for children with SEND' has already surpassed 100,000 signatures. We've spent the past few weeks travelling across the country, meeting with MPs and their constituents to understand the scale of the crisis – and it's clear frustration among parents is widespread. 'Every single week, I get parents approaching me with their children, unable to get EHCPs, not getting the support they need in schools,' explained Alex Ballinger, the newly elected Labour MP for Halesowen, in the West Midlands. 'I think it's probably the largest amount of casework of any type of support that people come to me for." ITV News attended a SEND roundtable with Mr Ballinger, where he heard the concerns from parents and teachers. The MP says these roundtables help inform his discussions with ministers in the Department for Education and Department for Health and Social Care, as they continue to work on reforming the sector. In recent months, the government has ramped up funding to increase inclusivity in state schools. 'As part of our Plan for Change, we already taking the first steps, including more early intervention across speech and language, ADHD and autism to prevent needs from escalating and £740 million to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools,' a Department for Education spokesperson said. But Mr Ballinger argued under the current system 'there will never be enough money to make it work in the way that it should be." His constituent, Natalie Child argues that reform is already too late for her ten-year-old daughter Amelia. Amelia is autistic and is currently within a state mainstream primary school, but her mother is struggling to obtain an appropriate secondary school place. 'When she first started at her primary school, she was completely non-verbal, completely uncoordinated,' Natalie explained. 'But she has come on so much under their guidance. The teachers on the ground have been good with her, but she won't get that support going up into secondary school.' Natalie is waiting for an already delayed EHCP review from her local authority and says she has had little communication with their caseworker. 'SEND schools have turned her down because they've said she's not got moderate or severe learning difficulties,' she added. 'So she's not disabled enough for a SEND school, but she can't cope in mainstream and it will restrict her academically.' Natalie is doubtful that any changes will come in time to benefit her daughter. 'Her school placement is here and now," she insisted."Not in a year, not in five years. It's here and now.' Many families have told ITV News they feel their children have been failed by a multitude of public bodies from councils to schools. But Alberto Costa, Conservative MP for South Leicestershire, argues the role played by GPs and NHS trusts also requires further scrutiny. 'We're not reaching breaking point. We've long passed breaking point,' he argued. 'The system has totally failed. Children are being referred by their GPS for assessment and never receive an assessment.' Parents and MPs say the emotional impact of such delays on the family can't be underestimated. Stephanie Harris turned to her local MP – Liberal Democrat Monica Harding - last summer after struggling to obtain support for her nine-year-old son Austin who has dyslexia, dysgraphia and anxiety. 'I remember turning up to your (Monica's) office in tears and being at the point where I didn't feel like we could cope and go on as a family,' explained the mother of two. 'I think when you're at the point of applying for an EHCP, the child and the family are probably at their lowest because that's when their needs are highest, but they're not being met.' Austin remains enrolled at his local mainstream school, but last December Stephanie and the family made the difficult decision to remove him from the setting. 'It went a whole calendar year of struggling to get him into school. He was out of the classroom for a lot of the time. His distress levels were getting higher,' she explained. The process of obtaining an EHCP for Austin took more than 40 weeks – in the meantime Stephanie and the family have had to source alternative provisions for his education. 'It's been quite isolating. We missed out on a lot of family events. We've probably lost friends throughout the process," she said. "We've spent probably over £10,000 trying to get the right support in place, trying to advocate for Austin.' Surrey County Council has now agreed to fund an independent placement starting this September, but Stephanie like other parents, stressed that any SEND reform needed to put the needs of the children front and centre. 'I think the curriculum needs to be overhauled," she told ITV News. "I think they need to have different ways of assessing children even from a very, very young age in school. 'Taking away legal rights of parents is something that I worry about and a lot of people that I speak to within the SEND community really worry about.' Ms Harding, who represents the constituency of Esther and Walton, is among a handful of MPs – elected in July 2024 - who say they have been 'shining a light' on the challenges facing families. She is critical of what she describes as the 'adversarial' approach adopted by many councils . 'The local authority, whose statutory duty is to the child, have to be more open with the family and work with the family instead of against the family.' But her big concern is the cases that don't make their way to her inbox. 'These are the ones that we know about, the ones that come to my vast majority don't come to me,' she said. 'These are children that are dysregulated, being excluded from school, their life chances are going down the pan because they don't have support in place. So Stephanie is amazing, she's talking for a community, but behind her there are so many children that are missing out.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
More than half of special needs plans delayed
Children and young people with special educational needs are facing longer waits for support plans with fewer than half issued on time last year, according to new government data. Only 46% of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) were issued by local authorities within the 20 week deadline in 2024, the Department for Education (DfE) said on Thursday morning. It said local authorities are "overwhelmed" and it will set out "wide-ranging reform" in the new data comes as parents and disabled charities expressed concerns that the changes could involve replacing EHCPs altogether. Sue lives on the Wirral, in Merseyside, with her two daughters - Matilda, 11, and seven-year-old Isadora. The family has just secured an EHCP for Matilda after a process lasting 72 weeks - nearly a year longer than the 20 week deadline. Matilda is in her last year of primary school and has been getting extra support for suspected autism as well as ADHD. Sue says her daughter "really struggles with change" and is worried that the delay means she has missed the chance for a managed transition into secondary Council says it is processing more than twice the number of requests for EHCP needs assessments than before the Covid pandemic. It said it had recently invested an extra £2.8m per year into improving its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services and has doubled the number of Sue is worried that after a long fight to get a plan in place, the government might decide to scrap or change EHCPs in their reforms in the autumn. She says this would be "devastating" for parents like her."For Matilda, it would have to be a complete rethink of mainstream education works," Sue said. "She wouldn't cope with the class sizes. She's got a lot of sensory issues, she can't wear school uniform. "Behaviour policies in mainstream schools aren't flexible enough for students who display complex and challenging distress behaviours."Without an EHCP to tell people what to do there's no guarantee that child will get the support to help them progress." What is an EHC plan and how do I get one for my child?Assessing children 'continues to be a challenge'Five schools to get hubs to support SEND pupils The number of children and young people in England with an EHCP has increased to 638,745, the highest number since they were introduced a decade ago and a nearly 11% rise on last EHCP is a legal document outlining the support for special educational needs that a child or young person is entitled could outline the need for one-to-one assistance, specialist equipment or other tailored support, and it is issued by local authorities after an assessment of the child's education secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously said she would like to see more children supported in mainstream schools, and has put aside £740m to help schools adapt. At the moment, 43% of young people with EHCPs are already in mainstream schools. There are nearly 1.3 million pupils currently getting support for special educational needs in schools in England without an EHCP, but many parents value the legal rights to support that the plans set out and fight hard to get them put in place. Katie Gauche, of the Disabled Children's Partnership, said the idea of scrapping plans will "terrify families".The group, which represents charities, campaigners and parents, said the legal right to an individual plan must remain a key part of any reformed SEND system."The reality parents and children face now is that an EHCP is the only way they can get an education," Ms Gauche said. "Most requests for EHCPs come from schools who rely on them to support children's health and social care needs."Any conversation about replacing these plans should focus on how children's rights to an education will be strengthened, without the red tape and without the fight."The National Audit Office said last year that the SEND system as a whole "wasn't financially sustainable" and was not delivering better outcomes for children and young people, despite big increases in high-needs funding over the last 10 years. A deal holding £3bn of SEND deficits off local authorities books has just been extended to 2028, but local authorities are still under huge financial pressure because of rising SEND response to today's figure, Tim Oliver, chair of the County Councils Network, said "comprehensive reform" was needed and should include "clearly defined support" for families."Despite this record expenditure – which importantly is being artificially kept off local authority balance sheets – we recognise that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the system," he said. "Councils are facing a deluge of requests for support, so whilst the commitment to reform is important, government can ill-afford to get it wrong."In response to Thursday's figures, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, said "too many children are not having their needs identified at an early enough stage". She said this creates "a vicious cycle of overwhelmed local services and children's support needs escalating to crisis point"."Through our Plan for Change, we're improving things right now, and will break this vicious cycle with wide-ranging reform," she said. "We've already invested £740 million to create more places for children with SEND in mainstream schools, we're increasing early access to speech, language and neurodiversity support, and we'll set out our full plans to improve experiences for every child and family in the autumn."
