When is a child with special educational needs, just not special enough? It’s when the local authority decides the child’s SEND aren’t severe enough to warrant taking over the placement funding at an independent …
In my first SNJ post I gave a brief overview of Bright Futures School and how we use ‘guiding’ (derived from the autism intervention Relationship Development Intervention or RDI) to …
Tania writes: Today I’m so pleased to bring you a guest article from a highly respected head teacher of a school for children with complex autism in Surrey. Justin Price …
It’s that time of the term again here in the Aspland household. Tests! One week every term is handed over to testing what my children know. Now, I am not …
Tania: Today we start a new series of articles from Zoe Thompson, who has been a regular contributor to our SNJ LinkedIn group Zoe is the Head of Development at …
I am sure many of you, at one time or another, have considered setting up your own school. Maybe you have had problems finding a school that could meet the …
I’ve written about my boys’ special (ist) school, More House, on several occasions before. My sons joined in 2007 and this year, our eldest, Luca, left to join a mainstream …
I recently met Garry Freeman, Director of Inclusion and SENCo of Guiseley School in Leeds at a Westminster Briefing I was part of, giving the parents’ view for partnership working. …
The marquee had an extension for Founder’s Day this year. Our first end of summer term Prize Day came in July 2008, (I wrote about one of our early ones here, …
Over the last few weeks, I have read several articles about teachers and head teachers leaving their chosen profession due to the importance being placed on schools to achieve national …
In the new Children and Families Act 2014, parents will be able to request a placement (rather than express a preference as it is now) at SOME independent special schools …
Tania writes… A quick update on the 17 boys, all with some form of special needs, including my eldest, who’ve headed off from More House School in Frensham to climb …
Happy New Year and I hope you all had a great Christmas without too much stress! Ours was relatively quiet, with both Son1 and Youngest away skiing with their special …
Today is the International Day for Persons With Disabilities, which will be marked worldwide. It’s also Son1’s 15th birthday and I would like, today, to offer a message of hope …
For some children, a mainstream school setting can be overwhelming, particularly if they have learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or find it otherwise difficult to learn in the same …
Statistics published by the Department for Education today show that pupils with statements are nine times more likes to be permanently excluded from school than those pupils without any SEN. …
Youngest is off, after school, on a camping trip with his Year 8 cohort. They will set off to walk to a nearby campsite, pitch tents, eat BBQ, camp overnight …
A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend a conference about the formation of special free schools. I couldn’t make it myself as I had other meetings, but Claire …
Pathological Demand Syndrome is increasingly being recognised as being on the autistic spectrum. People with PDA will avoid demands made by others, due to their high anxiety levels when they …
There’s a story about SEN in the Daily Telegraph today “Can 20 per cent of schoolchildren really have special needs?” by Peter Stanford. It’s already attracted lots of comments, some …
