Exclusive: More than half of free specialist school projects put on hold by the government are set to go ahead, as councils turn down alternative funding offers
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/more-than-half-of-special-free-school-projects-set-to-go-ahead/
image shows long steps upwards with the consultation at the top colourised in mauve
NEW POST: @captaink77.bsky.social & @tanialt.bsky.social have some words about answering the Government’s 39 Step White Paper SEND consultation, including their—and your—use of AI www.specialneedsjungle.com/3...
Some councils will remain in financial trouble even after the government intervenes on SEND deficits – and could face clamour from families and schools to get statutory support before reforms come into effect
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/will-reforms-fix-the-send-funding-crisis/
image shows a sepia colourised trojan horse image
NEW POST: We take a close look at the proposed “Specialist Provision Packages” and discover they’re more of a Trojan horse, reducing the #EHCP rights of children with SEND. www.specialneedsjungle.com/s...
@johngroberts.bsky.social put it very diplomatically, but special school was the first time my kids formed friendships, formed part of a community that wanted to be with them, gossiped, had arguments then made up. The community we lived in offered none of that
I’m sure the prospect of cheaper mainstream provision is attractive to them in its own right…
…but I get a sense that they also see mainstream as intrinsically better: the tin-eared emphasis on better attainment, and special school placements taking kids away from ‘their friends in the community’
I wrote about the SEND proposals in the White Paper, and my view of how we got here politically. V personal - no one's views but mine.
open.substack.com/pub/jimlaude...
Children's deaths due to failures of state provision should be a massive story.
Story 1 by Max Kendix of The Times, tweet posted at 14:35 on Friday 20 February Councils forced to spend £20k a year for a single child to receive horse therapy to help with special educational needs EHCPs used for therapy alpacas, dogs, angling, and aerial arts. Costs of horse-related spending alone is £1.9m across 22 councils this year, for 119 cases
Second story by Max Kendix, tweet posted on 22 February Times investigation: They had special educational needs. The state failed them so badly that they took their own lives We uncover the stories of 20 young people whose recent deaths are blamed on failures by schools, councils and hospitals to give them the support they needed
A tale of two Times SEND stories on X, the everything app: same paper, same journalist, 48 hours apart
Story about spending on equine therapy - 136,000 views, 111 RTs, 95 comments, many foam-flecked
Story about 20+ system-induced teen suicides - 4,000 views, 30 RTs, 7 mostly scornful comments
No, just a press release on funding: I’m out of action today, but other SNJ folk are on the case
Inclusive Mainstream Fund E1.6bn 2026-2029 Broad inclusive provision funding Experts at Hand E1.8bn 2026-2029 LA-commissioned specialist support services (eg EP, SALT, OT) Best Start Family Hubs (SEND Offer) £200m Unclear Equip hubs with SEND support / outreach offer Teacher Training for SEND £200m 2026-2029 Training course across multiple stas of SEND for all teaching High Needs Provisional Capital Allocation £3.74bn 2025-2030 SEND capital funding (infrastructure, buildings) to create around 60,000 "specialist places," plus "inclusion bases" for all secondary schools
There’ll be lots of references to different pots of SEND funding today: some new, some
not. Here’s a table showing recent announcements
NEW POST: Children died. The system looked away... On the day the Government seeks to slash the support rights of most neurodivergent children, accountability group Measure What Matters publishes evidence of the lethal cost of unmet need Part 1 www.specialneedsjungle.com/c...
Breakdown of the £4 billion figure leading headlines…
…plus some extra work assigned to special schools that doesn’t appear to have any earmarked funding
The implementation of the Welsh ALN reforms suggests the latter (page 18 onwards, IDPs) senedd.wales/media/c2sjtv...
Bog roll in March 2020, but for state special schools
Especially if the PE locusts exit the sector at pace
Excerpt from Observer article Whitehall sources stressed that the Send reforms would be phased in slowly and that the initial priority would be to improve facilities and support in mainstream schools. “It’s not at this stage about taking anything away from anybody,” one official said. “Every child who is in a special school will stay there and every child with a plan will keep it.”
I’m only a simple SEND parent who feels things. I don’t understand big complicated policy concepts like ‘perverse incentives’ or ‘unintended consequences’
But if you make pledges like this, & you don’t implement your reforms for 3-4 years, how exactly do you expect people to respond from 2026-2030?
Buried in para 11: “Between 2015-16 and 2023-24, the average share of local authority spending committed to SEND increased from 1.7% to 2.8%”
This’ll be revenue spending, separate from capital spending which included a dedicated £500m pothole fund from DfT
Just so half-arsed
It’s been briefed out so cack-handedly, who knows? But…
a) a couple of sources have indicated that KS2-3 transition will have a higher bar than now for some aspect(s) of statutory support
b) no guarantee that AR process will continue in its current statutory form
(this isn’t new, btw - the first time I had a parent complain to my face about the extra £ spent on my kid was 2008…
…the offending item was a 1990s-vintage body-worn radio aid receiver, value fully depreciated before her little darling had even started school)
Photo of the outside of a building, with a sign reading “GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM”
Photo of a bearded guy in a library, surrounded by books on his desk, concentrating hard
Stock photo of a university degree graduation ceremony, with mortar boards and scrolls raised high
![Facebook journo request
***SENSITIVE SUBJECT***
£150 / ANONYMOUS INTERVIEW: MUM WHO'S CONCERNED HER CHILD'S SCHOOL BUDGET IS BEING SPENT ON PUPILS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
This is a sensitive and divisive subject, but please keep comments civil and remember there are always two sides to a debate.
Are there other, more important things you feel the school should be spending money on? For example, urgent repairs to the building/s, vastly improved food for the children, more books, computers, sports equipment etc.
If you'd be happy to chat to me anonymously, please get in touch at [email redacted] with more details and your phone number.
Key details will be altered to protect your identity and you will have copy approval.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15551307/Town-hall-spending-support-special-needs-pupils-SEND-soars-nearly-two-thirds-six-years-fastest-rise-wealthier-areas-report-finds-prompting-calls-urgent-overhaul.html](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4vbkxai2uzkroguq2apazkfb/bafkreif7mpjiwkzxs5nxch2vtix3kjs4fdlgkd4fj2camqabnpoaf5nvre@jpeg)
Facebook journo request ***SENSITIVE SUBJECT*** £150 / ANONYMOUS INTERVIEW: MUM WHO'S CONCERNED HER CHILD'S SCHOOL BUDGET IS BEING SPENT ON PUPILS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS This is a sensitive and divisive subject, but please keep comments civil and remember there are always two sides to a debate. Are there other, more important things you feel the school should be spending money on? For example, urgent repairs to the building/s, vastly improved food for the children, more books, computers, sports equipment etc. If you'd be happy to chat to me anonymously, please get in touch at [email redacted] with more details and your phone number. Key details will be altered to protect your identity and you will have copy approval. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15551307/Town-hall-spending-support-special-needs-pupils-SEND-soars-nearly-two-thirds-six-years-fastest-rise-wealthier-areas-report-finds-prompting-calls-urgent-overhaul.html
“remember, there are always two sides to a debate”
image has the graphic with an overlay of cracked glass on a peach background
NEW POST: SNJ’s @captaink77.bsky.social has dug behind DfE research data into #EHCP creation times. He’s found some “deranged” numbers that can’t be real—but does the government really care as long as it gets what it wants? www.specialneedsjungle.com/s... #SaveOurChildrensRights #SENDSky
'Mainstream school appears 13 times in the new DfE estates strategy. Special school doesn’t appear once'
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dear-dfe-dont-marginalise-special-schools-and-ap/
images shows floating £20 notes over water splashing and the graphs from the article
NEW POST: We’ve had a few #SEND funding-related announcements recently. SNJ’s @captaink77.bsky.social explains the cash splash: What it means and if it’ll improve provision… www.specialneedsjungle.com/s...
#Disability #SENDSky
It's a year since my extraordinary daughter died unexpectedly. Re-sharing her obituary because it matters so much that the world understands who children w/ SEND actually are - especially right now when their right to the support they need in education is at risk. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
I’ve no idea whether the proposal mentioned in the Sky piece will be implemented. But it would be very, very hard to reconcile with this recent pledge www.theguardian.com/education/20...
The alternative would most likely be some sort of delegation of high needs funding to local clusters, or a need-based Table of Ranks-style tariff
Assuming no garble in translation (unlikely tbf) it would affect almost all kids in m/s, the vast majority of kids in state special (see graph), & even many/most kids in the independent sector
www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-funding...
“Under one plan discussed in government last year, the indicative threshold above which a council would fund a specific pupil would rise from around £6,000 to upwards of £40,000, £50,000 or £60,000”
If implemented, that would probably impact 90%-95% of kids who currently have EHCPs
Major news on SEND funding this evening…
All the details here ⬇️⬇️
