More SEND pupils could go to mainstream schools as support shake-up is considered

10 comments

1. The Government is considering tightening the rules on which children with special educational needs qualify for specified extra support, in a move that could result in more of them being educated in mainstream [schoolsThe Government is considering tightening the rules on which children with special educational needs qualify for specified extra support, in a move that could result in more of them being educated in mainstream schools.](https://inews.co.uk/topic/schools?srsltid=AfmBOorY_fS6XAEYke-2mOaGcCbUakFqArDuKDuhPQDImBgsUtfhhsDz&ico=in-line_link)

   Sources in the [special educational needs](https://inews.co.uk/topic/special-educational-needs?srsltid=AfmBOorj069JRSjxPxKqyIGyTddHe7WSdlTsaCW9sVvlLkk1ufHrafkd&ico=in-line_link) sector have told *The i Paper* that legal changes to the criteria for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – which guarantee pupils a certain level of support in schools – are being considered by ministers.

   The news comes amid an escalating [SEND ](https://inews.co.uk/news/solve-send-crisis-nhs-frontline-staff-3347748?srsltid=AfmBOopn6cJwL4ATgNtDOWCSu4fZ2nCrU5Rp6cKyIEGcSbTgXMTb6nIC&ico=in-line_link)(special educational needs and disabilities) education [crisis,](https://inews.co.uk/news/inside-send-crisis-tribunal-support-3376116?ico=in-line_link) caused partly by the increased number and cost of EHCPs.

   The Government has said that “no decisions on SEND reform have been taken, and any plans would look to improve support for children to thrive in education”.

   But special educational needs campaigners are already warning that they will fight what they see as “the biggest threat to disabled children in over a decade”.

   # EHCPs could become ‘harder to get’

   Sources say the Government is looking at ways of revising legislation from 2014 to clarify and be more specific about which children should qualify for an [EHCP](https://inews.co.uk/news/the-worst-places-in-the-uk-to-have-a-child-with-special-educational-needs-3188901?srsltid=AfmBOorQixzcNUEVE2gvcIy806mmRPbgLAfzQGu1pSpjcWqqg7S58Yu4&ico=in-line_link).

   A source told *The i Paper* that the Government’s direction of travel is “changing the threshold for EHCPs to make [them] harder to get”.

   The end result could mean a reduction in the number of children with plans that entitle them to expensive state-funded places in private special schools, and an increase in the number of pupils with SEND in mainstream schools.

   The Government is already committed to increasing the capacity in schools that could help this happen. In December, the Department for Education (DfE) announced £740m of capital funding to create more specialist SEND places in mainstream schools.

2. I worked with SEND kids for a few years, and in my experience it was *absolutely* true that some parents pursued a diagnosis for their kids that was totally inappropriate.

   Usually it was either motivated by the parents own health problems skewing their perception, or in more cynical cases parents who thought their kid would have some sort of advantage like more exam time.

   I honestly think that the more kids are able to access mainstream education the better, but to do this properly you need to have specialist units attached to those schools that mean you can take those kids out of lessons when necessary.

   Throwing them into mainstream lessons with no additional provisions would be a disaster.

3. A large tightening of the rules is inevitable given the scale of growth in SEN transport.

   Local councils simply don’t have the funds and the central government is not going to ride to their rescue financially.

   So either the government allows councils to go bankrupt or they tighten the rules to bring down costs.

4. The vast majority of children with send are already in mainstream. Likewise the vast majority of pupils with EHCPs are also in mainstream.

   I think I agree that EHCPs should be harder to get, many kids have them who don’t need them. The issue is that EHCPs have almost been used as a way of addressing underfunding in schools, and if you don’t increase funding support generally you’re gunna see big problems with suspensions and exclusions.

   This will also do nothing to help, and may further impact, staff retention as you’re going to have young people with a greater complexity of need that you need to cater for. Also, SEMH covers a raft of behaviours, which will contribute to increased difficulties with behaviour.

5. My nephew is nearly 10. He has been at home for nearly 2 years. He has autism and can barely speak. He currently gets 15 hours a week with a guy who takes him out to various places to help him cope with life but its not ideal. He went to a mainstream school and his life was hell. He now hates school and refuses to even talk about it.

6. I’ve got no particular point to add or make, but I have two young AuADHD children who now go to a specialist school after great effort to get into it.

   My eldest has always been in mainstream school and had assistence with a one-to-one SEND helper, socially he got on great with his classmates but is always a disruptive one and needed regular time away from the class to burn off the energy, the major issue he had was the bridge of his academic skills and what’s required in class was growing wider and wider, where essentially he just can’t keep up with basic school work.

   His mother and I really tried to push for him to be as mainstream as possible, but there’s limits on being left behind in school (and the school was brilliant at supporting him) so it was a tough and slightly upsetting decision to change schools. However if his academics improve we still absolutely have the option to move him back to mainstream school.

   Most people I know who are barely *considering* that their kids *might* have special needs have no idea what an EHCP even is, most special needs support & processes are extremely esoteric and barely documented anywhere and has come from word-of-mouth.

7. OK, so everyone needs to read this bit of the article and understand that the word “however” was inserted by a dumb*ss journalist to suggest that the two statements are in tension – they are not.

   >Anna Bird, chair of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, a coalition of more than 120 charities and parent groups, said: “We share the Government’s ambition that more children with special educational needs can get an education without going through a legal process.

   >“No other parents have to get a lawyer or spend days on documents to find a place where their child is safe and able to learn.

   >**“The current reality for hundreds of thousands of children is that** **securing an Education, Health and Care Plan is the only way to get the support they need**. Reducing the number of children eligible for plans would leave more and more disabled children without the education every other child and family takes for granted.”

   >However, Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis Academies, which runs more than 50 schools in England, said plans to cut EHCPs could work if coupled with the right support in mainstream schools.

   >He said: “If you get the right intervention for a child, many of them never go on to need an education healthcare plan – we see that time and time again…

   >**“Some children are always going to need an EHCP but many children won’t if they receive the wraparound inclusive care they need in the school they’re in in the first place.”**

   It’s not a zero-sum game – inclusive policies help everyone.

8. My children have noted from the very beginning of primary school that the inclusion of SEND pupils disrupts their classes and harms learning.

   There is no political solution here, the country is bankrupt and ultimately all these services are going to rot away as the country devotes 110% of its resources into warehousing dying elderly people on hospital wards.

9. Hopefully this doesn’t effect my profoundly autistic son!

10. Cool.

    In my school, we’ve SEN kids who are non-verbal, loads of kids on Autism spectrum, some who need one-to-one supervision at all times to stop them hurting themselves (one did only a day or two ago because his TA was off sick, thankfully only a minor injury), some with early onset progressive dementia, some basically paralysed from the neck down.

    We are a mainstream school. 1,700 other kids, a large number of whom think they are gangster roadmen in essentially a sink school.

    Our SEN team do their absolute best, but holy hell – every September the needs seem to increase. And I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been asked about some syndrome or another because I have a medical background. Along the lines of ‘don’t let this kid go up the stairs or their heart might stop’

    I’m going to bet that ‘changing the rules’ means more SEN kids who should be ‘one to oned’, not getting that provision. Then it’s just a matter of time until one of them goes out a window, off a balcony, or down two floors to the atrium.

    Cue Coroner being rightfully angry and low ranking minister saying those familiar and worthless words ‘lessons will be learned’

    And remember, the plan is to cut school budgets in real terms next year as the teacher pay increase will have to come from school funds…

    Labour – the party of business and fuck the disabled (because they probably don’t vote).

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