Here are six current stories about what’s happening to special education in England.
They are from around the country, but the subject is the same: INCREASING DEMAND for provisions for disabled students AND the prominence of COMPLEX NEEDS.
Two of the stories were from the BBC, which is always reporting on this stuff, but they never focus on the real issue: MORE DYSFUNCTIONAL STUDENTS.
Stories will tell us that there are more students with special needs plans in English schools, but after 20 years of always more, most likely, no one really pays attention.
Imagine if each of these stories had asked why there are always more disabled students, instead of understating things by saying, “demand is increasing. “
Complex needs is another polite term that masks the reality of students who have serious behavior issues or requires 24/7 care.
This kind of reporting is part of the cover-up that the press in England, especially the BBC, is expert at.
Here’s the latest.
June 7th, BBC News: New special educational needs units to be created
Two new special educational needs (SEN) units will be created in East Lancashire after the county council's cabinet approved the plans. . . .
Jacqui Old, Lancashire County Council's executive director of education and children's services, said: "The demand for specialist provision continues to increase and we are working hard to create and enhance existing provision so that we can fulfil our statutory duties."
This story from Hereford came closest to saying more disabled students.
June 6th, Herefords Times: Special needs adaptations planned at Hereford primary school
A quarter of a million pounds is to be spent adapting a Hereford primary school for pupils with special needs. . . .
The tender puts the value at £250,000 [$318K] and says it expects the successful bidder to carry out the work between July 17 and September 29 this year.
Rising numbers of young children with special educational needs in Herefordshire have prompted substantial recent investment in the county’s mainstream schools. . . .
“Demand continues to increase and additional capacity is urgently required,” with 150 extra specialist places likely to be needed over the next four years, the council said at the time.
June 6th, Luton Today: More than 100 new special school places in Houghton Regis as part of £50million [$64M] investment
Up to 115 new special school places in Houghton Regis are set to be created.
The council says the extra places at Chiltern School will mean more children and young people with complex special educational needs including autism have access to specialist education closer to home. Previously, growth in demand for special school provision had resulted in increased placements within the independent sector and outside of the area.
The expansion is part of a £50million [$64M] package to help children in Central Bedfordshire. . . .
June 5th, BBC News: Ex-school's demolition to make way for new special school
A date for the demolition of a former school in Huddersfield has been set as plans to build a new special school in its place move forward. . . .
The site will be the new home of Woodley School and College, which caters for students up to the age of 19 with complex autism. . . .
Often these stories have an official being quoted calling the expansion of services, exciting or saying that they are delighted.
. . .Councillor Viv Kendrick, said: “The expansion of Woodley is an exciting development.
June 5th, Essex Live: 'Extreme emergency' over Essex's SEND assessment backlog which is worst in England
Essex has the worst assessment backlog in England for assessing children for special needs and disability
Essex County Council has admitted to an “extreme emergency” after struggling to find a sufficient number of experts required to bring down its backlog - the worst in England- of children waiting to be assessed for SEND (special educational needs and disability). The council had earmarked just over £1 million [$1.3M] for recruiting enough extra educational psychologists to reduce the worst backlog in England.
Currently, only one per cent of SEND assessments are completed within a 20-week deadline – and there are more than 1,000 in the education, health and care plan (EHCP) needs assessment process. . . .
In 2016, Essex was responsible for 7,550 children and young people with an EHCP. In January 2024 the number had increased by 75 per cent to 13,228. In 2015-16 it received 1,638 requests for assessment compared to 3,986 in 2022-23 – up 143 per cent.
Of the 221,520 pupils in Essex, 24,862 pupils are on SEND support and 13,282 have an EHCP – a total of 38,144 SEND students.
June 4th, Time and Star: Proposal for more SEND school placements in Cumberland
. . .The council presented the proposals today, with will see 58 additional placements, shining a light on the importance of them as demand for special needs education provision continues to increase in the area. . . .
These prospective 58 slots would cater for a range of SEND requirements - autism, serious learning difficulties, social or emotional mental health issues, physical and medical needs, and speech, language and communication needs. . . .
Emma Hamer, assistant director for Education, SEND and Inclusion said: "The demand for specialist education places for children and young people with SEND is a national issue. . . .
She said: "More development of specialist provision places is needed and we hope that the councillors will approve the proposals in July and Cumberland Council can move forward with the next steps. . . .
If journalists aren’t interested in what’s behind all this, why should the public care?
Start here:
Dear Mr. / Madam School Board Trustee
I write to you today in a sincere effort to help you accomplish your noble goals for seeking this office.
That is to help you facilitate the betterment of our schools for our children and young people.
To do this, I ask you to make the Board meeting agenda and the data points behind them available to me as well as all of the other taxpayers.
Upload the stack to a server where we can read, ratify and or annul the elements after log on.
In a perfect world each paragraph must have at least three possible answers: agree, disagree, no opinion at this time.
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hosting, voter receipts, and a running tally of totals for everyone to see.
In this way Madam Trustee you are assured that you will always have the strength of the community with you when making the decisions that really do effect the lives of our people.
Vty,
Helpful Taxpayer Citizen
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