First thing’s first, congratulations to Vicky Ford, MP for Chelmsford in Essex, who has been appointed to be the new Children and Families Minister, which includes SEND, or at least …
Ofsted’s annual report, late because of the election, has a great deal to say about SEND and not much of it is good. To recap figures we’ve previously reported (links …
with Nick Whittaker, Specialist Adviser, SEND, Ofsted In one of my roles, I work alongside other SEND representatives on Ofsted’s SEND Stakeholder Advisory Group. As I spend a lot of …
Last Friday, whilst people were still getting their heads around the General Election, SNJ’s relentless data hoover sucked in a new set of figures – fresh information on the Special …
with contributions from Matt Keer, SNJ Columnist Just last week, Matt mentioned the upcoming report from the National Audit Office (NAO). And lo, this week, here it is. As expected, …
A few weeks ago, we ran an open letter from a SEND parent, Claire Ryan, to Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman about how the new draft inspection framework was letting …
There have been a few happenings recently that I have intended to write about but meetings and other commitments, plus the good ol’ Ehlers Danlos, have meant it hasn’t been …
If you’re wondering how you could to hold your local authority to account for not obeying the law or refusing to carry out its statutory duties, we have a post …
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 …
Accountability is not a word that parents often used to associate with the world of special educational needs and disability. So when the government announced three years ago that independent …
We’re almost two years on from the biggest change to SEND accountability in a generation – the introduction of local area SEND service inspections, led by Ofsted and the Care …
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 …
We all know that money’s tight in public services, not least in providing for children with disabilities. It’s not surprising local authorities want to avoid shelling out lots of money …
Over the years Special Needs Jungle has frequently highlighted the unacceptable practice of illegally excluding children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) from school. You can see just how …
Our Facebook chat last week had a pretty overwhelming response, thank you to everyone who participated. We had a bit of a glitch in that replies from Matthew Barnes, Ofsted’s …
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 …
Along with the slew of information released by the DfE last week came a very long, detailed survey of family experience of the Education, Health and Care Plan process in 2015. It …
If you’re reading this, then you’ll know that the Government reformed the English SEND system in 2014. Inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are checking how well …
Six months ago, Ofsted & the Care Quality Commission began inspecting how well local areas are implementing the September 2014 SEND reforms. At the time of writing, they’ve published 13 …
In just over a week’s time, I’m taking a group of parents to the Department for Education to meet former MP, Lee Scott, who has been asked by the Education …
