The special education needs and disabilities system is in crisis.
Students and parents are struggling to get the support and adjustments they need to get a holistic education. Instead, they are trapped within a system where it can take years to for students to be recognised as needing SEND support.
I visited St. Werburgh’s Primary School to discuss how teachers are finding the SEND system, and if they are having any challenges.
They told me how vital teaching assistants are in the modern classroom. They provide personalised support and care for children, helping the teachers to continue their lessons without interruption.
However, schools are struggling to employ enough teaching assistants and SEND officers to cover all their classrooms.
After years of funding cuts by the previous Conservative government, schools are struggling to cope with the rise in diagnoses in recent years with stretched school budgets.
This Labour government is trying to reverse this, taking SEND budgets into the Department for Education, investing £3 billion to deliver 50,000 more inclusive spaces in mainstream schools, and matching these spaces with expert staff by investing £200 million for SEND teacher training.
But it is really important that their experiences are raised with the government. I will be writing to the Education Secretary to highlight this school’s challenges so that it can influence the government’s SEND strategy – which will be released this year.