Read on Twitter
Having 3 kids at school has freed up my time for admin and being angry so here are my thoughts on my son Ben’s secondary school application (How is he old enough? Where did my baby go? etc). We would like Ben to move to the secondary campus of his current special school... 1/14
but this will require our Local Authority to agree to him continuing his education ‘out of borough’. Judging by the experiences of our friends, they might push for him to stay ‘in borough’ which is cheaper largely because the transport costs are lower. We’ll see… 2/14
The process is anxiety provoking because I don’t trust that decisions about education will be made on the basis of what’s best for Ben but rather on squeezed budgets; spending on education has fallen while the number of pupils needing extra support has increased 3/14
Ben’s EHCP sets out what he needs to learn and it’s worked brilliantly. It opened the door to his current school which supports him well. So the EHCP process can, and does, work for some. But past success is no guarantee of future provision. 4/14
If the LA don’t agree to Ben staying at his school we will have the option to argue our case in front of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal which other parents do every day either to get the support their child needs or to get an EHCP in the first place. 5/14
92% of SEND tribunal hearings decided last year were in favour of the child, family or young person. 92%! It is estimated that Local Authorities spent £40m spend in 2018/19 on SEND tribunals. Yet it continues… https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/features/press-send/5105758.article 6/14
So families are likely to win but going to tribunal is stressful, expensive and the child is left waiting for support in the meantime. Meanwhile mainstream schools are still trying to support pupils with SEN and insufficient funding. 7/14
‘A recent survey of 600 Heads showed 94% found it harder to resource SEND than 2 years ago and only 2% felt top up funding was sufficient to meet EHCPs. In England total school funding has fallen by 8% since 2010.’ (I’m quoting the Head of my other kids’s school) 8/14
This funding shortfall inevitably results in learning suffering, and those who could manage in mainstream schools moving to specialist provision to get support. This is a kind of segregation. Each person has to prove that help is essential before the money can be released. 9/14
The effect of this creaking system on children and their families is awful but obvious. But even if you (me) are lucky enough for your children to be in good schools, with good teachers, it feels like you’re on the edge of a precipice. 10/14
The system isn’t set up to be fair, but rather is trying to keep going in almost intolerable scarcity and it needs to ration the resources it offers. The govt is encouraging schools and parents to see SEN pupils as draining funds that could otherwise support more kids. 11/14
The system pits families against each other, against LAs, schools against parents, and is stacked against those with least power. Education is not this govt’s priority and that’s exactly what it feels like (tho good of them to get kids back to school so I have time to rage) 12/14
Of all the things this govt is doing to reduce opportunities, reduce inclusion, increase inequality and further demonstrate its disregard for disabled people, this is the one I am most angry about this week. It’s not fair on our children or their teachers. 13/14
Full blog here: https://son-stories.com/2020/10/08/getting-political-about-education/ #sonstoriesblog 14/14
