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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
“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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
“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 …
Anyone who has had to grapple with the SEND system to get their child’s needs acknowledged and met knows that the system is not currently working as it should. Not …
The thing that worries me most about my disabled daughter as she gets older is who will understand her. Who will really get to know who she is, and what …
