Some children with special educational needs and disabilities are missing out on help to support their learning in mainstream schools, Ofsted has warned.
The Ofsted report finds that specialist support from multi-agency services often complements the support offered by schools. While families and school staff value this external support, it is not always timely or implemented appropriately.
"Many children and young people with SEND have found it harder to engage with remote education during the pandemic, so getting the support right for these pupils is more important than ever. This research shows that high-quality education for these children is underpinned by a good understanding of their individual needs, and strong relationships between families and schools. Effective joint work between schools and other services, especially including health, is also critical to children’s learning and development," said Sean Harford, Ofsted’s National Director for Education.
Many of the schools and families participating in the research had experienced long wait times and high levels of bureaucracy in the education, health and care (EHC) plan process. Families were often commissioning or paying for additional services themselves. This suggests that the playing field is not level for pupils from poorer backgrounds.
Ofsted’s report, carried out during the spring term of 2019 to 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic, found:
"The findings from this research will be really valuable as we continue to build on our inspection practice and develop the new area SEND inspection framework," said Sean Harford.
The report was based on interviews with pupils, parents, teachers, support staff and leaders from a sample of schools across two local authorities, where representatives from the local authorities and clinical commissioning group were also interviewed. The findings are based on a small number of case studies. Therefore, they are not necessarily reflective of the wider population of pupils with SEND.
New Deprivation of Liberty court launch for children
A National Deprivation of Liberty Court dealing specifically with applications relating to deprive children of their liberty has been announced by Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division.
The court will deal with applications seeking authorisation to deprive children of their liberty and will be based at the Royal Courts of Justice under the [...]
Independent review into CSE in Oldham finds child protection procedures were not followed
Some children have been failed by the agencies that were meant to protect them because child protection procedures had not been properly followed, an independent assurance review into historic child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Oldham has found.
Evidence of poor practice was attributed to a structural flaw the review team found in the multi-agency system [...]
Sixty Second Interview with Chloe Bach
Find out more about our Business Administrator Chloe Bach who has been with WillisPalmer since 2009.
Tea or coffee?
Coffee (oat milk latte)
What 3 things would you put in Room 101?
Migraines, slugs and war
What is your favourite place in the world?
Wherever my family is (but I do love New York)
If you were on death row what [...]
A Mackman Group collaboration - market research by Mackman Research | website design by Mackman