SEN0343

Written evidence submitted by anonymous

Support for children and young people with SEND

• Outcomes for children and young people with SEND and how these can be improved

Ensure access to range of facilities, services and resources that will target gaps and needs in order to improve progress.

• Workforce issues for teachers, SENCOs, specialists, early years practitioners and all those who work with children with SEND

High work load with low financial incentive. Limited resources and budgets to equip staff with training and skills to support students in the classroom.

• What substantive training is needed for teachers, teaching assistants and all those who work with children with SEND to improve knowledge of SEND and pedagogical approaches to teaching SEND Children to increase their inclusion in schools?

Trauma training, emotional regulation training, specific SEN training targeted at different diagnosis, in class team teaching and in the moment support.

• The role of and capacity of specialist schools, independent schools and Alternative Provision

Not enough specialist schools to cater for needs – most of them have too low academic expectations for high functioning students. APUs not academically driven enough, not trauma informed, too behaviourist model.

• Education, Health and Care Plans:  
• How can waiting times for EHC Plans be improved?

Employ more case officers to assess cases

• What can be done to support parents, carers and children or young people before, during and after the EHC Plan process?

More staff available to meet and talk to. Not requiring the extensive paper work and evidence that puts on additional workload and pressure.

• What alternatives are there to the EHC Plan process?

Designated funding for SEND register students to ensure they have provision in place without needed EHCP funding.

Current and future model of SEND provision

• What can be done to improve the effectiveness of multi-agency and joined up working cross education, health and social care?

Employ more staff to lessen work load and free up staff to be more available and more aware of individual needs and cases.

• How can excess profit-making in the independent sector be tackled without endangering current provision?

Ensure they are obligated to be a charitable organisation that provides outreach, use of facilities, sharing of resources and scholarship places.

• changes needed to the curriculum in mainstream schools to enable SEND children to fulfil their potential? If so, what changes are these?

Go back to course work options for GCSEs, less focus on memorising information for GCSEs, skills based curriculum, qualification alternatives and funding for those to be implemented in schools year on year basis depending on need through specialist teachers being bought in.

• At the points on the education pathway that SEND children are at greater risk of leaving school for long term absences, home schooling or exclusion, what reasonable adjustments and EHCP support would enable them to continue education in mainstream schooling?

Increased funding to allow for mainstream schools to support in school with additional rooms and teachers/TAs to teach them in a nurture group or small group.

• What can be done to reduce the disproportionately high exclusion rates for students with SEND?

Increased funding to support with Tas and mentors in school and provide emotional regulation strategies.

• How should the health needs of children with SEND best be met while they are at school or in early years settings and who should fund this?

Employ school nurses.

Finance, funding and capacity of SEND provision

• Is reform needed for funding of SEN support provision in schools, where currently the school is responsible for funding the first £6,000 of provision?

Scrap the £6000 funding completely and give schools SEND money based on their SEND register and breadth of need.

Accountability and inspection of SEND provision

• How can Area SEND inspections of local authorities be made more effective?

Looking at schools as individuals and not comparing to others

• How best to hold all schools, irrespective of how they are constituted or their governance arrangements, to account for their SEND provision?

Same inspections for all schools

January 2025