Hope is not a luxury in the SEND system. It is what keeps families going through years of assessments, exclusions, appeals, and meetings that too often feel adversarial. Hope is …
In another of our podcast series on a decade of the Children & Families Act 2014, we talk to veteran SEND expert, Brian Lamb OBE. Brian’s SEND Inquiry in 2009 …
In the third podcast in our series on a decade of the Children and Families Act 2014, SNJ ’s Tania and Renata talk to former SEND Minister, Edward Timpson, who …
It’s been an incredible year in the SEND world, but not because the system has started to work better, or because families are routinely at the centre of decision-making. It’s …
A brief update today. Despite it being the middle of summer, the Department for Education is still pumping out information that you, perhaps being on hols, might have overlooked. The first …
Money. A chorus of voices are speaking up, telling us there’s not enough of it. Parents, teachers, unions, local authorities, all with different perspectives, but all telling us that we …
The first hearings into the SEND inquiry were held before the Education Select Committee this week. Three esteemed witnesses were gently probed for their views on how the 2014 SEND …
Time for a quick update on what’s happening in the world of SEND for you today. A while ago, we told you that the services that support parents and young …
This is our final instalment of the answers supplied by the Department for Education to your questions. We grouped your questions into related themes and over the past week we’ve …
Following Matt’s post last week about Transfer Deadlines and zombie statements, we got in touch with the Department for Education and posed a few questions that we thought you’d like …
It’s all change at the Department for Education. Not only was Justine Greening knocked off her stool as Education Secretary this week, Theresa May’s reshuffle has also done for the …
A couple of months ago, accompanied by my younger child, I attended the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism in Westminster, as a witness. We were reassured that the evidence …
SEND reports are like buses. Nothing for ages, then one, two and now three come along at once, this latest from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO). None …
A report published by Young Epilepsy says one in three schools in England are effectively breaking the law by not having Individual Healthcare Plans (IHP) in place for children with the …
In an earlier SNJ blog in 2015 I wrote about the critical role of the SENCO in schools. The SEN Reforms had called on a more strategic role for SENCOs …
We really want to be able to bring you stories of great experiences of the SEND system by families. Sadly, we don’t often get sent them and today’s parent story …
Dear reader, I am sorry, but I have failed you. A clutch of research reports about SEND have been recently released and I would so love to be able to …
It’s the end of the school year and children are arriving home up and down the land with their school reports in those scary sealed envelopes. But how have England’s …
Last week I wrote about the problems facing parents of children in mainstream school whose special needs have been persistently overlooked. While the troubled roll-out of Education, Health & Care …
The annual figures for special educational needs came out yesterday and I spent the day poring over them and making another nice infographic to go alongs with it. 2016 saw a 12% …
