What costs £103.7 million and makes disabled children miserable?
Whether you’re a SEND parent or SEND professional, you’re probably running on vapour right now as we come to the end of the longest term. If you can though, spare …
Category: SEN Legislation
Misinformation and misconceptions: Busting some SEND law myths
As many of you will know, half of the battle of getting support for your disabled child is getting people to listen to you. By people, I mean schools, professionals …
Does your school’s website break the law?
An interesting, if limited, study has been published by the government. entitled “Mental health and wellbeing provision in schools, Review of published policies and information”. Researcher, Rebecca Brown looked at the websites of …
Against Human Rights: Landmark ruling against school exclusion for behaviour related to autism
Thousands of children with disabilities will now be properly protected from discrimination in schools after a landmark ruling found the government’s equality laws are unlawful. Just over a month ago, …
The National SEND Tribunal Trial: what does it mean for families?
The National Trial which extends the powers of the First-tier (SEND) Tribunal to make non-binding recommendations about the health and social care aspects of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans …
Reforms, what reforms? Lancashire fails SEND children and mistreats parents
Just over a year ago, I wrote about the dreadful SEND inspection report for Surrey from Ofsted/CQC, as part of the SEND reforms accountability measures. Since then quite a number …
SEND Tribunal will rule on EHCP health and social care issues in extended trial
When you appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) SEND Tribunal about an issue surrounding a child or young person’s Education, Health and Social Care plan (EHCP), problems with the health and …
Put your question about SEND to the Department for Education (2017)
Renata and I recently visited the Department for Education and met with the Director of SEND, Ann Gross and Dan Evans, another senior official. We handed to them around a …
Deputyship and mental capacity for young people at the SEND Tribunal
Tania’s note: Please welcome another new writer on SNJ, SEND lawyer, Hayley Mason. Hayley will be writing posts that inform parents about legal issues, but note, her posts do not constitute …
The worrying trend of social care tactics to target SEND ‘problem parents’
Recently on SNJ’s Facebook page, someone accused us of being too hard on local authorities who were ‘trying their best’. Actually, I know first hand that many, many people working …
Special needs lawyer calls for election pledge to solve SEND disarray
A young lawyer specialising in special educational needs, who himself has SpLD, has warned the parties in the upcoming election urgent action is needed to fix the disarray in the current state …
Tribunal research shows getting it right at the start improves disabled children’s outcomes
The most consistently effective way to resolve disagreements about SEND is to appeal to the Tribunal, according to the evidence contained in a complicated research report released by the DfE. …
Post 19: Education, health, care and training support for disabled young people
A quick post today to let you know about guidance the Department for Education has published for 19-25 year olds with SEND. Too many young adults are not getting the …
The SEN reforms in Wales: What parents need to know
For the last year, I’ve been monitoring the start of consultations and legislation for the Welsh government’s reforms to their special educational needs system, or Additional Learning Needs (ALN). Now, …
The Care Act when transitioning from children’s to adult social care
One of the biggest concerns for parents of disabled young people who are about to pass 18, is the move to adult services. Sometimes it goes smoothly, but often it …
The Scott Schools and Colleges SEND report: It’s really rather depressing
Lee Scott is a very nice man. Earlier this year, at the request of the then Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, he criss-crossed England speaking to schools, colleges, families and local …
Testing for children with SEND: The Rochford Review
The final report of The Rochford Review of statutory assessment arrangements for pupils working below the standard of national curriculum tests was published earlier in the week. As I’ve been busy …
We challenged our son’s school over disability discrimination
Depressingly, I’m hearing just as many, if not more, cases of families being forced to go to the First Tier SEND Tribunal to get the provision their child needs, than …
Is there a crisis looming at the SEND Tribunal?
New figures out from the Ministry of Justice have shown a big jump in the number of appeals registered at the SEND Tribunal. It’s not totally unexpected; earlier this year, writing …
Why an unfortunate series of tweets must be a SEND game-changer
If you were browsing Twitter at the weekend, you may have happened upon a series of most startling and revealing tweets. If you were a bit late, you would most …
