OFSTED labels missing SEND support a 'scandal'.
OFSTED's Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman has responded to the lack of provision for thousands of children with SEND in schools by calling it a 'national scandal'.
The Chief Inspector of England's schools has recently reported that there are 4000 children who have received Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are in reality not receiving any support at all in England.
Of further concern, she also raised the issue of children who are disappearing from education.
Currently, statistics from the Department of Education about SEND show the following:
There are 1 million students receiving some kind of SEND provision.
In England there are 250,000 children who have an official EHCP.
27% of pupils with SEND had a fixed-term exclusion last year.
Spielman has said that in 2017 more than 4000 children who were awarded an Education, Health and Care Plan received no provision. This is five times more than in 2010. This is what she referred to as a 'national scandal'.
What is an EHCP?
An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legal document that replaced the former Statement scheme. The document describes a child or young person's special educational, health and social care needs. It outlines the extra help that will be given to meet those needs and how that help will support the child or young person to achieve what they want in their life.
The funding for this support comes from the Local Authority and sometimes the process of getting an EHCP can involve going to a tribunal in order to get the Local Authority to agree to fund the EHCP.
It is often a misunderstood process which is thought to be extremely complicated and take too much time when in reality with the right support in application the process will take only 20 weeks from start to finish.
An EHCP for children with dyslexia could include anything from having assistive technology or extra TA support in school through to funding a place in a
specialist dyslexia school (maintained or independent).
In a recent BBC News article that reported Spielman's comments
, a report was quoted as saying that there are potentially as many as 10,000 pupils who cannot be accounted for who may have been 'off-rolled' by schools in years 10 and 11, because they did not appear on the pupil list of another state school. The report suggests that these children may have switched to independent (fee paying) schools, moved elsewhere or have been homeschooled.
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Adding to the challenges with EHCP provision is that the demand for EHC assessments has risen by a half since 2015.
The report states that in 2017, 45,200 children and young people were assessed while 14,600 were refused an assessment.
This is corroborated by the many stories that I hear as I support families on my
Parenting Dyslexia Facebook Page
who tell me how hard it is to get support in place.
If you are looking for support for your child and are struggling to get your school to put that support in place then my e-book "10 Ways To Successfully Negotiate Support In Schools For Dyslexia" could be useful to you and I would be happy to send that to you for free. All you need to do is click the banner below and subscribe to my Parenting Dyslexia Website and I will send a copy to you by email.