Tory MP Robert Halfon quits as minister and James Heappey confirms resignation, paving way for mini reshuffle – as it happened
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Andrew Sparrow
7h ago
Robert Halfon quits as skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister as James Heappey confirms decision to step down In interviews this morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, admitted that special educational needs provision was in crisis, Ben Quinn reports. Universities in England could be told to terminate their arrangements with foreign countries if freedom of speech and academic freedom is undermined, the government’s free speech tsar has said. As PA Media reports, Prof Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students (OfS), said ..read more
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Hard-up English councils ration access to special needs tests
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Chaminda Jayanetti
4d ago
Many local authorities are increasingly rejecting requests to assess children who need help in schools, new data reveals Councils are increasingly ­rejecting requests to assess children for ­special needs such as autism amid the financial crisis in the education system, according to figures seen by the Observer. Long-term underfunding combined with rising demand ­aggravated by the pandemic has left many councils facing significant ­deficits on their schools budgets. Freedom of information data sourced by the website Special Needs Jungle shows that councils in England have responded by increasi ..read more
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‘It’s an absolute mess’: building work seriously delayed on 33 new special schools in England
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Anna Fazackerley
2w ago
Promised provision, particularly for autistic children, was announced a year ago but few schools will open on time Plans to deliver thousands of new special school places by 2026 are falling seriously behind, with experts branding the building programme “a mess”, the Observer can reveal. The news calls into question the only announcement on schools the chancellor made in last week’s budget – a commitment of £105m towards 15 additional special schools ..read more
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The Guardian view on the special needs crisis: children don’t deserve this chaos | Editorial
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Editorial
1M ago
By failing to adequately fund their own policy, ministers have created a destructive standoff between families, councils and schools A decade after David Cameron’s coalition government overhauled provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England, it has never been clearer that the system is in crisis. A raft of measures designed to appeal to parents, by promising them greater influence over their children’s education, has resulted in a destructive standoff between families, schools and councils – because ministers failed to adequately fund their own polic ..read more
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Special school places allocated on ‘very fine margins’, twins’ father says
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Richard Adams Education editor
1M ago
Pete Hale’s identical twin sons are non-verbal and diagnosed as autistic, but only one of them was given a place at first Hundreds of children with special needs wait a year for support Analysis: responsibilities were heaped on councils as funding shrank Councils are making life-changing decisions over which children receive places in special schools based on the narrowest of margins, according to the father of identical twins with special needs who were awarded just one school place between them. Twins Jasper and Reuben, five, were diagnosed as autistic from the age of three and were issued ..read more
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Hundreds of children with special needs wait a year for support in England
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Richard Adams and Morgan Ofori
1M ago
In some areas young people have been waiting more than two years for plan detailing help they require, FoI reveals Analysis: responsibilities were heaped on councils as funding shrank Special school places allocated on ‘very fine margins’, twins’ father says Hundreds of children with special educational needs have been waiting for a year or longer to access support, as local authorities across England buckle under the strain of the demands placed on them, the Guardian has learned. Freedom of information requests found that in some local authorities, children and young people have been waitin ..read more
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Sybil Williams obituary
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Tom Greener
1M ago
My friend and former colleague Sybil Williams, who has died aged 97, travelled to the UK from her native Australia in 1954, planning to stay for six months. She was soon working in a boarding school for disadvantaged pupils, and settled in Islington in north London. For the rest of her life Sybil remained loyal to Islington, demonstrating her affection by sponsoring rows of ornamental pear trees on either side of Lloyd Baker Street and Great Percy Street. In the early 1960s, she was appointed head teacher of Colebrooke school, an Ilea special school for pupils identified as having emotional an ..read more
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From social care to homelessness, what are the cost pressures facing English councils?
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor
2M ago
A decade of cuts has reduced local authorities’ ability to deal with key long-term issues, from child protection to an ageing society Angela Rayner: Tories’ council fund is cynical pre-election sticking plaster Barnet council’s ‘Graph of Doom’ now looks prophetic ‘Stuck without it’: Woking elderly residents face losing key transport Once vanishingly rare, the prospect English local authorities might go bust now offers no surprise: four councils have in effect gone bankrupt in the past year; others have declared a state of “financial emergency”; a further one in five believe it is “fairly or ..read more
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UK council could go bust due to £60m hole in special needs spending
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Chaminda Jayanetti
2M ago
Parents fear government accountancy rules are severely impacting the chances of getting a care programme for Send children A council has warned that it could in effect become insolvent this year because of the huge financial deficits it has racked up on special education needs, in the latest development in the local government funding crisis. Most councils in England have overspent their budgets on special education needs and disabilities (Send) since 2015, when the government extended the age range of young people who qualify for Send support without providing councils with the necessary fund ..read more
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‘Less daunting’: inside the new education unit in north London supporting school refusers
Special educational needs | The Guardian
by Richard Adams, Education editor
3M ago
The Royal Free hospital children’s school is running programmes at the renovated Konstam Centre in Camden When schools in England fully reopened after the Covid lockdown in 2020, most children were happy to return. But Rex, like many other children, decided he wouldn’t go back. “He didn’t particularly enjoy school, pre-Covid, but just got up and went, because that’s just what you did,” says his mother, Tracey. Rex’s mental health deteriorated; he was struggling with chronic depression and anxiety, and he became what is known as an emotionally based school avoider ..read more
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