Is the Government rationing EHC plans?
MPs on the House of Commons Education Select Committee invited the Children’s Minister, Claire Coutinho, in for a chat this week about the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. Members of …
Author: Catriona Moore
Will non-statutory National Standards improve SEND or just create confusion and more unlawful behaviour?
TONIGHT! LIVE WEBINAR: Will the Government’s “SEND Improvement Plan” fix SEND? Register here! The SEND Improvement Plan published by the Government on 2nd March was described in an excited press …
A failure of Children and Families Act implementation does not mean rip it up and start again m’luds
The Children and Families Act 2014 – a wide-ranging piece of legislation that includes the legal framework for supporting children and young people with SEND – has failed a generation …
Why children with SEND in penal detention routinely fail to be given educational needs support
The majority of children who find themselves in penal detention have some form of special educational needs. These needs are routinely mislabelled, unrecognised and unmet. That’s the conclusion of a …
Could the SEND Review’s “big ideas” wither on the vine of political uncertainty?
Two Secretaries of State ago, back in the politically distant days of July, the House of Commons Education Select Committee wrote to the then Education Secretary, James Cleverly MP, about …
New SEND Minister, Kelly Tolhurst: many responsibilities but none so important as disabled children’s futures
We’d begun to get a little paranoid at Special Needs Jungle that maybe no one really wanted children and young people with SEND. Three weeks have passed since a new …
Quince back on board with SEND as the Education Committee sends a shot across the bows
It’s finally been confirmed that Will Quince MP will continue to have political responsibility for SEND, and the SEND Review, following last week’s ministerial resignation/reshuffle that saw him promoted to …
Behaviour management in schools: legally, the playing field has not been levelled
And Alex Stafford, Solicitor, IPSEA legal team member, parent of teenager with SEND The publication at long last of the SEND Review has taken up nearly all our attention in …
#SENDReview Chapter 2 under the microscope: National standards, EHCP changes, and limiting choice
As we continue our analysis of the SEND Green Paper, today we’re looking at Chapter two, which includes consultation questions 1-7. Remember, a Green Paper is a discussion document; these …
We don’t need ”fundamental SEND reform”. Just sharpen the teeth of the legal system we already have.
Getting the Children’s Minister’s attention at a webinar this week attended by 200 parents of children with SEND was an excellent opportunity to give him an unmediated insight into our …
Mr Zahawi: Publish the SEND Review—but make sure it solves the RIGHT problem
A government reshuffle: it’s as good as anything else for a temporary distraction. There’s always the hope it might result in a minister who really knows and cares about the …
The SEND Tribunal single appeal route works. DfE must give families certainty it’s here to stay
Tribunal’s powers to make recommendations on health and social care ‘to continue’ – but why has it not been made ‘permanent’? The national trial of extended powers for the SEND Tribunal to hear …
Minister admits legal entitlements for children with SEND are “up for review”
The Children’s Minister, Vicky Ford MP, has admitted that existing legal entitlements for children and young people with SEND are under review, as part of the ongoing and long-awaited SEND …
Children’s Social Care Review: Are disabled children ‘someone else’s’ problem?
“It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” This line from the film ‘Clockwise’ regularly runs through my mind when contemplating government reviews …
Why does Josh’s review seem to think disabled children are “Not Known to Social Care”?
From what I can see, the independent review of children’s social care doesn’t seem to be much interested in finding out about the experiences of disabled children and their families outside the …
MPs call on the government to act quickly on home education register
The number of children – including children with SEND – who are home educated by their parents’ choice, has increased steadily over the last five years, and sharply over the …
SEND Inquiry report Part 2: No more reviews, it’s time to ACT
This is the second part in our SEND Inquiry report coverage. See Part one from Matt Keer here It has been a long time coming, but the Education Select Committee’s …
SEND Review: A game-changer or playing politics with vulnerable children?
While the biggest political and constitutional crisis that anyone can remember rages all around us, ministers resign, MPs are purged and no-one is quite sure who will be in Government …
First-time minister given one of the toughest jobs in government: Fixing the #SENDcrisis
The last week has brought a succession of big changes at all levels of government. The appointment of a new prime minister was followed by a more wide-ranging purge of …
SEND success is a journey, apparently, one with no end in sight
“It’s a journey.” That’s what SEND minister Nadhim Zahawi said, repeatedly, at the final hearing of the House of Commons Education Select Committee’s SEND inquiry. This time, he and school …