A round up of the most interesting articles and posts I’ve seen this last week about the SEND White Paper.
Jonny Holden
“We've tabled amendments to Labour's flagship Children's Wellbeing & Schools Bill to go further on our ambition to:
▪️ Cut the cost of sending children to school
▪️ Drive high and rising school standards
▪️ Stop vulnerable children from falling through the cracks”
https://bsky.app/profile/bphillipsonmp.bsky.social/post/3mby6lblvlc2p
“We want to have an open conversation on points and ideas organisations have raised to help inform how we shape the policy in the White Paper.”
https://consult.education.gov.uk/digital-communication-team/send-reform-national-conversation/
“...the new provisions will allow inspectors to access any trust offices and academies, as well as other premises where children are educated as part of the trust.”
by Ellen Peirson-Hagger
https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/how-will-mat-inspections-work-trusts (Free)
“ Schools, nurseries and colleges should be inclusive overall, so every child with speech and language challenges can succeed.“
Written and published by Speech and Language UK
“When asked what has surprised her the most, Gould said a group of young people with SEND told her they wanted someone with “lived experience, whether that was a kind of mentor, a teacher, that they could talk to [about] having special educational needs and disabilities”.
Report by Ruth Lucas
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/send-roadshow-sessions-have-shaped-our-thinking-insists-gould/
“The way ministers seem to want to restore the system to stability and calm is not by enabling councils to meet their responsibilities or insisting that they do so, but by drastically reducing the number of parents they have to deal with.”
by John Harris, Guardian Writer and parent of child with SEND
https://maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/the-four-letters-at-the-heart-of
“1. Move to tiered, early statutory support
2. Introduce a national EHCP template
3. Embed multidisciplinary, clinically led assessment and joined-up systems”
by Dr Freya Spicer-White
Number 2 isn’t happening (in spite, or because of, the Change Programme work?).
Numbers 1 and 3 seem to be in the Code of Practice 2015.
Because oracy seems to be on our collective consciousness:
“Because students had been given the chance to organise their thinking, this discussion was frequently rewarding and challenging, often with clashes of ideas and opinions. Meanwhile, because the teacher could already see students’ thinking, it enabled them to invite all students into the discussion by recognising that their ideas were worth sharing.”
by Andrew Stones
“They’ve waited once, then twice, then more,
Each delay feels like another closing door.
Timelines blur, the months extend,
And still they ask, when will this end?”
We are pretty sure that mainstream inclusion is going to be an important idea within the SEND White Paper. Find out more about our work with Calderdale and Leeds Councils on mainstream inclusion and SENCO whole school audit