The devastating impact of the SENCo workload
70% of SENCOs responding to a national survey said they don’t have enough time to complete the demands of the role. Almost three-quarters (74%) said they frequently feel frustrated by …
Category: SEN Support
SEN Support in schools: Finding out what works in practice
Tania’s note: We concentrate a lot on EHCPs on this blog, but far more children are on lower levels of SEN help in schools, now called SEN Support. But how …
The Department for Education replies. 1: SEND Provision
Last year, the Department for Education offered to answer SNJ readers’ questions about SEND. It’s not the first time they’ve done this, you can see the previous session in 2016 here. …
Are Teaching Assistants bad for children with SEND?
I often hear that, “Research says that Teaching Assistants (TAs) are bad for children, so we don’t do them here” in response to parental queries regarding support at school. The …
Two-thirds of England’s schools lack support for best outcomes for SEND pupils
A survey of more than 1,000 school leaders has revealed that more than two-thirds (68%) say they lack the support to deliver the best outcomes for pupils with special educational …
IAS Service: Supporting families of children with SEND
When you need help or advice as a parent about your child or adolescent’s education or difficulties with special educational needs, there are a number of options. A while ago, …
Key points of SEN Support in schools: What it is and how it should work
In Tuesday’s post on the outcomes for children and young people with SEND but no EHCP I concluded by drawing attention to the importance of the SEND Co-ordinator in taking …
Dropping SEN figures and the ‘waiting room’ category: the DfE replies
A couple of weeks ago, we reported on the latest SEN figures for England that were released by the Department for Education. We noticed that there had been a rather steep …
SEN figures show 2.5% drop in children with special educational needs in England
Just as we agreed to go down to two posts a week over summer (with a week off in August), the Department for Education dropped the 2015 SEN figures. Sigh. …
SOS!SEN on England’s special needs reforms: The Good, The Bad, The Unchanged
Way back in 2011, I wrote an article about a small SEN legal charity, SOS!SEN, that provides an advisory service to parents trying to ger the right educational support for …
Where do KS4 and KS5 students go – when they have SEN?
In January, the DfE published a “Statitistical First Release” showing a breakdown of where children/young adults go to when they leave school or further education. The 2012/13 report looks at …
Finding out about SENDirect: Delivering choice and control to families
As a result of the SEN reforms, the landscape around special needs has suddenly got a whole lot more complicated. Local Offers, Independent Supporters, Mediation providers, the SEND Gateway and another …
The new SEND system as a flow chart: Part 1, SEN Support
Anyone a bit confused about how the new SEN system process, starting on 1st September 2014, will piece together? Where you start, what’s next, what’s instead of School Action and …