Special Needs Jungle covered the SEND reforms from start to finish and has charted the path of disaster ever since. Here are the posts we've written covering the subject specifically, starting with the most recent
If you have a child with a statement or on any level of SEN, you need to know about this and below we have gathered all the posts we've written about SEN reform and politics.
- SEND Tribunal trial extended – but it needs more than just time to be a success
Tania Tirraoro
November 5, 2019Plans have been announced to extend the current trial that gives the SEND Tribunal powers to make non-binding directions for appeals against EHCP health and social care decisions as well as those for education. The Trial is testing a "single route of redress" to include appeals to both health and…Continue reading » - The DfE wants to stop LAs filling SEND funding gaps
Tania Tirraoro
October 14, 2019with Gillian Doherty, SEND Action Last week, the High Court found against campaign group, SEND Action in their judicial review into SEND funding against the Government. You can read about the decision here. Today, the founder of SEND Action, Gillian Doherty, writes on SNJ of the shocking irony in how…Continue reading » - Judge: A remarkable achievement for parents to take the government to court
Tania Tirraoro
June 28, 2019The judgement in the Judicial Review of a group of parents against the government over SEND funding, has been reserved after a two-day hearing. But whatever the ruling, the parents who drove this forward on behalf of all families of children with disabilities were praised by the judge who called…Continue reading » - The government’s legal day of reckoning looms, as families challenge over SEND failures
Tania Tirraoro
June 25, 2019While most of the country’s politicians are fixated on Brexit and BoJo, vulnerable children have been left to bump along the bottom of the agenda. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow, all eyes will be on the High Court in London as a group of families with disabled children from North Yorkshire, Birmingham,…Continue reading » - SEND inquiry takedown: Parents Vs DfE
Tania Tirraoro
May 19, 2019There have been close to 700 pieces of evidence (and counting) sent in to the SEND Inquiry. Tomorrow, the Department for Education will be giving evidence to the Education Select Committee in person(s). In the grand finale of the oral evidence sessions, Nadim Zahawi MP, the SEND minister; Nick Gibb…Continue reading » - SEND parents tell Ofsted its new draft inspection framework lets vulnerable learners down
Tania Tirraoro
March 2, 2019Parents of disabled children have voiced their anger over Ofsted's new draft education Inspection Framework for England, that's under consultation until April 5th 2019. The framework covers early years, maintained schools and academies, non-association independent schools and further education and skills. We'll be soon running a post from SEND leader,…Continue reading » - SEND children are being “traumatised” by not getting the help they need in schools
Tania Tirraoro
January 16, 2019Watching the parliament TV broadcasts of the SEN Inquiry has been an interesting affair, but yesterday’s brought tears of outrage to my eyes. More on that in a moment. It was a roundtable event again, with school heads, teachers and SENCos giving their views to the Education select committee, led…Continue reading » - The SEND Jungle 2018: The year parents roared
Renata Blower
December 23, 2018It’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 been incredible because of the numbers of parents who have risen up and demanded an end to cuts to SEND…Continue reading » - What costs £103.7 million and makes disabled children miserable?
Matt Keer
December 14, 2018,, 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 a thought for the hard-working statisticians at the Ministry of Justice, who’ve been slaving away over red-hot spreadsheets so…Continue reading » - The struggle in SEND hurts us all. It’s a sign of society gone wrong
Tania Tirraoro
December 5, 2018Yesterday I was interviewed by BBC TV news about the Ofsted Annual report. It’s not an unusual occurrence, being contacted by various news organisations to talk about the crisis in SEND. It’s just depressing after more than a decade – and four since the “reforms” – I’m still having to…Continue reading » - The devastating impact of the SENCo workload
Tania Tirraoro
November 30, 201870% 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 the lack of time allotted and half said they spent the equivalent of a whole extra day, unpaid, (meaning a…Continue reading » - SEND Update: Good intentions…and complaints for young people with SEND
Tania Tirraoro
August 23, 2018A 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 is a response from the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds to Dame Christine Lenehan's residential special school's review, "Good Intentions, Good…Continue reading » - £600 million SEND reforms: Disabled children have had poor value for money
Matt Keer
July 12, 2018Money. 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 are in the middle of a funding crisis. The process of moving from the old SEND system to the new…Continue reading » - SEND Inquiry: The Baroness, Brian, the man in the middle and much more..
Tania Tirraoro
July 6, 2018The 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 reforms have played out so far. This post today has two parts - the first is a review of the first…Continue reading » - SEND update: Parental support and EHCP transfer miracles
Tania Tirraoro
May 10, 2018Time 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 people through the SEND system were out for contract. The configuration of the services were being changed and you can…Continue reading » - The DfE replies: Accountability in SEND
Tania Tirraoro
February 23, 2018This 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 run the replies baed on SEND provision and EHCP issues. Today is the one about accountability, which is a big…Continue reading » - The DfE on the EHCP transfer deadline. Plus all change for national SEND support services
Tania Tirraoro
January 24, 2018Following 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 the answers to and they have replied, so I'm sharing everything with you today. Sharing is caring, after all. As…Continue reading » - SEND on the rocks: Can a new minister rescue the reforms from certain disaster?
Tania Tirraoro
January 10, 2018It'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 SEND minister, Robert Goodwill. Ms Greeening has been replaced by Damien Hinds MP, while Nadhim Zahawi, MP for Stratford-on-Avon, steps…Continue reading » - Parliament autism group calls for more autism training, speedier support, more understanding
Tania Tirraoro
November 29, 2017A couple of months ago, accompanied by my younger son, I attended the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism in Westminster, as a witness. We were reassured that the evidence that I and all the other witnesses gave, as well as the other information the APPGA had gathered, would not…Continue reading » - The SEND system is fractured, if not broken. Three new reports prove it.
Tania Tirraoro
October 24, 2017SEND 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 of them are good news. A while ago, we covered the case of a parent who had taken her council…Continue reading »
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