Councils in deficit SEND funding were recently granted money (up to £27m) from the Department of Education (DfE) to bring their groaning finances back into line by 2026. The DfE has put together deals with five local authorities, conditional on them ensuring cost-effective measures be put into place to manage higher …
by Amy Hardie, Sharon Pratt Dawson and SEND Community Alliance Despite Surrey still being under the Ofsted cosh for failing its SEND area inspection in 2016, it’s now consulted with the county’s headteachers on proposals to cut additional SEN funding for mainstream schools. The special educational needs (SEN) funding consultation: …
by Donna Sharp with Eleanor Wright Raising a child with SEND is probably the most rewarding, yet one of the most profoundly complex caring roles ever. On any given stage of the journey, many families will feel overwhelmed with the physical and mental challenges of ensuring their disabled child has …
SEND Community Alliance (SCA) are delighted to announce that SEND charity, SOS!SEN is joining the SCA steering group as a full member. SEND Community Alliance are a collaborative, founded in 2019 by the country’s three leading independent SEND groups; Special Needs Jungle Ltd (SNJ is a non-profit social enterprise), SEND National Crisis and …
Following the Special Needs Jungle survey, that revealed a very mixed picture of support for children and young people with SEND during lockdown, we’d like to find out what was especially good for your family? Did you discover a passion for home educating? Did online speech and language therapy work …
SEND Community Alliance endorses the in-depth research completed by our co-founders, Special Needs Jungle that found 75% of families either did not have or did not know if their child had a risk assessment to facilitate their return to school following the COVID 19 pandemic. Only 18% reported their child …
During the pandemic, as individuals and with our respective groups, we’ve been caring for our disabled children or getting information out to families. But we are also members of key national groups, including the Special Education Consortium, so we’ve been busy thinking about the current situation and what needs to …
While we appreciate these are unprecedented times, we are extremely concerned that the Coronavirus Bill strips away hard-won protections for disabled children, adults and their families for up to two years. We want to know why there is the need for disabled and vulnerable people to be targeted in this …
Councils are talking to lawyers about a potential judicial review of the Government’s new proposals for SEND funding. Will they have the courage to stand up for the rights of children and young people with SEND or will they continue to implement covert cuts? What will the proposals involve? Under the …
17 February 2020: Community Alliance notes with interest the appointment of Vicky Ford MP as the new Children and Families Minister (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education). We welcome her to the role and would like to invite her to meet with us at her earliest opportunity. It’s vital that …
