Special Needs
- A recent article I wrote for Kent on Sunday is here.
- New policies on inclusion mean that many children who would once
have been given Statements of Special Need or offered places at Special
Schools no longer qualify. Special Needs funds have now been delegated
to schools which have freedom to use them for other purposes.
- Many schools operate excellent polices to support pupils;
others do not give the same priority. Parents often report great
difficulty in securing proper support for their children.
- Consult the SEN Code of Practice published by the government for an idealised explanation of how support for children with SEN operates. It sets out processes, parental rights, and what you can expect from your school. The Code of Practice is here.
- Many parents find the process of obtaining a statement, incredibly stressful, and tremendous hard work, but the advice is, if you feel you have a good case, to persist. You will usually need appropriate written supporting evidence, from medical or educational professionals in the field. Many parents simply give up, worn down by the process.
- Before parents can secure a Statement of Special Educational Need, they need to apply for an asessment.
- I have recently obtained data showing the extent of the decline in the number of statements awarded by KCC. Unfortunately, some figures are unavailable so, whilst the decline is demonstrable, not all data is comparable. In 2002/3 1,085 parents applied for assessments. In 2005/6 the figure was 1,231, a rise of 11% suggesting little change. However, between 2000/1 and 2005/6 the number of statements granted fell from 1,133 to 493, a fall of 56%. I can supply the full tables on request.
- Kent County Council will sometimes use a barrister to defend difficult cases, which can be very daunting for a parent depending on their own resources.
- The Kent Special Needs budget is now 17% of the education budget, so Kent County Council is under pressure to keep this within limits.
- Kent is in the process of reorganising its Special School Provision, so that some children with moderate learning difficulties, who would previously have found places in Special Schools, are now bound for mainstream schools, who sometimes have neither the specialist resources or the capability to support them properly. Such children can also be a strain on other children in the class, so all are unable to learn effectively. However, a recent OFSTED report shows that a mainstream school can be best for most children with SEN if it operates effective policies. You can read this here
- KCC publishes a document “Kent County Council Maintained Special Schools Listed by District – September 2006”, which also gives specialisms before and after the Special School Review.
- I offer a range of support from an initial consultation with ongoing telephone/email advice through to pressing for a statement, ensuring that agreed provision is delivered, to representing parents at Special Education Needs & Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) – the final appeal stage.
- Kent has one of the highest proportions of appeals to SENDIST per head, in the country outside London. Medway is average.
- Please refer to section on Exclusions for behavioural issues.
- A Times Education Supplement survey reports that a third of primary staff nationally report that pupils are waiting over 12 months for a Statement of SEN. 20% report waits of over two years. I have no reason to believe that Kent is different.