Special Educational Needs Blog

NAHT’s SEND Committee (09.06.10)

At the first meeting after Annual Conference, Paul Williams was re-elected as Chair and Tony Newman as Vice Chair. Both elections were unanimous.

The Committee heard from 2 visitors. The first was Garry Steele, CEO of FLSE, who gave us an update on his organisation and discussed ways in which we might work together in the future, including the possibility of having an SEN Summit. The other was Philippa Stobbs, who had hoped to be able to tell us about the implementation of the Lamb Inquiry, but as this was still under wraps, (due to the change of government), she agreed to return to our next meeting in September.

Academies Bill

While it was a refreshing change to have special schools included with primary schools in extending the Academies programme, it was a pity that no-one had worked out the complications involved, not least how admissions would be handled. The DfE is now looking at the issues with a number of head teachers, with the aim of finding a way forward by September 2011.

There have been concerns about how pupils with SEND would fare if far more mainstream schools decide to go down this route. Amendments have already been made to the Bill, that will mean a child must be admitted to an Academy, if the school has been named on the statement. It remains to be seen how the wider population of pupils with SEND will be affected.

Building Schools for the Future (BSF)

It was, perhaps, inevitable, that in the present financial climate, the axe would fall on this ambitious programme. NAHT is well aware that it has left some members facing extreme disappointment after years of planning and promises, let alone the additional heartache caused be conflicting lists being issued of which schools were in and which were out of the BSF Programme. It is ironic that this has stopped a number of innovative projects in their tracks, including the co-location of special and mainstream schools, which the government strongly supports. It is even sadder that we would not be in this situation if less time and money had been wasted on the process and many more buildings had been well underway.

The only ray of hope is the promised complete overhaul of capital investment in schools, early years, colleges and sixth forms, announced this month by Michael Gove. This will guide future spending decisions up to 2015. It is hoped that by stripping out the bureaucracy and making sure money is not wasted needlessly in the process, that at least some of the essential building work will be able to go ahead, particularly for schools that are struggling in thoroughly unsatisfactory buildings.

Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (CLDD) Research Project

When the Project Steering Board met this week, we were delighted to hear that DfE funding has been extended for a further few months, so that mainstream schools can be included as well as special schools. The first year is coming to an end and some fascinating information collected from the 12 development schools on the needs of the 60 most complex pupils. 65 special schools will be involved from this September, including 15 schools from other countries of the UK and from further afield. They will trial the materials being developed, in order to find pathways to learning for children whose needs are so complex or different, that they require something outside the usual approaches to teaching and learning. From January 2010, these materials will be tried out in a few mainstream schools as well, before becoming more generally available. Further information about the Project, and some of the information and materials already produced, can be seen on the SSAT website, which won the bid for the Project from the DfE.

SEN Review 

Since writing the last Blog, Sarah Teather, the only Lib-Dem on the team at the DfE, has been given SEN as one of her responsibilities. She will be in charge of the SEN Review that has been announced recently. Ofsted’s SEN Review has been completed and will be out between now and September. Sarah has said their findings will be taken on board as part of the latest Review, which will be issued as a Green Paper in the Autumn.  Whereas both the Lamb Inquiry and the Ofsted Review were asked to look at how to improve the current system, this one will be more wide ranging and look at the system itself, including the numbers being identified with SEN and the role of LAs in assessing needs and deciding on the provision that should be made.

Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress 2010 (2nd-5th August)

While some of you are sunning yourselves on beaches, Colm Davis (Council Member and SEND Committee Member) and I will be off to represent NAHT at ISEC 2010. This event happens once every 5 years somewhere in the UK and this time, it is the turn of Belfast. ISEC usually has a genuinely international audience and I will report back on it in the next Blog. If anyone is going, please find us and say hello.

In the meantime, have a well deserved and refreshing break.