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 …

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 …

#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 …

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 …

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 …