Petition watch

Our readers are passionate about a wide range of issues. Here we will provide you with opportunities to support initiatives which are of importance to you. Petition watch comprises a list of petitions relating to SEN which are currently active on the UK Parliament website with more than 100 signatures at the time of compilation. To add your name to any of these, go to the relevant page on the UK Parliament website (petition.parliament.uk). The petitions are not just symbolic. Any which reach 10,000 names will receive a response from HM Government. At 100,000 names, there is a chance that it will receive a debate in Parliament. We will continue to monitor and update this list in future issues, and of course report in more detail on any which meet either threshold.

All school staff should be required to take a course on children with special educational needs (SEN). Too many school staff don’t have any idea how to engage with SEN children!

The Teachers’ Standards define the minimum expectations of teachers’ professional practice and personal conduct. These standards set clear expectations that teachers must have an understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND. To support all teachers, we are implementing a ‘golden thread’ of high-quality teacher training reforms. These reforms are designed to emphasise the importance of high-quality teaching and to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed. This includes those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND Code of Practice and children in need of help and protection as identified in the Children in Need Review.

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) play an essential role in schools, supporting teaching staff to meet the needs of pupils with SEN and ensuring that schools have a clear and effective approach to inclusive education. Every maintained nursery, maintained mainstream school and mainstream academy must have a qualified teacher designated as SENCO. The Department has provided funding to the Whole School SEND consortium since 2018. Funding in 202122 will bring the total funding for this contract to over £8 million since 2018. We have also funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to education staff in early years, schools and further education settings. Department of Education

We want the Government to improve the lives of people of all ages with communication and swallowing needs by ensuring they are able to access the speech and language therapy that they and their families and carers need.

We welcome the recent report “Speech and language therapy during and beyond COVID-19” by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and its recommendations.

We are undertaking the biggest nursing, midwifery, and Allied Health Professional recruitment drive in decades, which includes recruitment of speech and language therapists. In 2020 there were 620 acceptances to speech and language therapy programmes in England, an increase of 28% on 2019.

On 23 November 2020 we published a Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19, setting out the steps we have taken to strengthen the support available for people who are struggling, including those with communication and swallowing needs. With respect to speech and language therapies specifically for children and young people, last summer NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) published guidance making clear that essential services provided in the community, including therapies, should be restarted for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged up to 25 years who have an Education Health and Care Plan in place or who are going through an assessment for one. Department of Health and Social Care

The Education Committee has recently recommended introducing a statutory home educated register, and greater assessment of home educated children. These recommendations are in contrast to the views of many parents who home educate.

The Education Select Committee is a Parliamentary Committee, independent of Government and its recommendations are not Government policy. Government acknowledges the recently published House of Commons Education Committee report on ‘Strengthening Home Education’ (published on 26 July) and is currently considering its response to the Committee’s recommendations, which we will provide to the Committee in due course. The Department will always consider the views of stakeholders alongside a broad range of evidence when developing elective home education policy. We fully support the right of parents to educate their children at home and most who do so educate their children very well, sometimes in challenging circumstances. However, while many home educated children will be receiving a very good education by dedicated parents, who deserve support, there will be others who are deemed to be ‘home educated’ but, in reality, most or entirely all of their education is through attendance at unsuitable settings, such as illegal unregistered independent schools. There is also likely to be a number of children for whom the education being provided is unsuitable, because their parents cannot educate them effectively at home or the child is simply not being educated. With the interests of these vulnerable children in mind, we therefore in April 2019 launched a consultation on proposals to introduce local authority registers of children not attending registered independent or state-funded schools, and support for home-educating families (should they want it). This closed on 24 June 2019. The Government’s intention with these proposals has always been to ensure that they do not impede those families who are genuinely, and through choice, educating their children at home. The consultation, unlike the Education Select Committee’s report, did not feature any proposals for local authorities to have explicit monitoring or inspection powers. With increasing numbers of children now being educated outside school there is, however, a greater need for local authorities to be able to identify these children, in order to assure themselves about the education being provided; and to offer support to those home educating parents that would like it. We remain committed to a registration system for children not in school. A registration system will help local authorities undertake their existing duties, as well as help safeguard all children who are in scope. Further details on this, as well as on proposals for supporting home-educating families, will be in the Government’s response to the children not in school consultation, which we will publish in the coming months. Department for Education

School senco’s to be qualified before they take the role and they must have done in depth training on special educational needs. The current role can be filled by a person not qualified for the role and they have 3 years to qualify.

The Government is determined to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and focus on preparing them for adult life. We have established the SEND Review, which aims to improve experiences of the SEND system, with services working in coproduction with children, young people and parents, and ensure we target and distribute resources in a way that best ensures children’s needs are met quickly and effectively. Once finalised, proposals will be published for full public consultation. All maintained schools must have a qualified teacher that is designated as the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). In collaboration with the headteacher and governing body, SENCOs play a vital role in determining the strategic development of SEND policy and provision in the school. The SENCO has a key role in ensuring children and young people with SEND get the support they need as early as possible and are able to achieve the best outcomes. That is why ensuring SENCOs are fully qualified for their role is essential.

SENCOS must complete the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) within 3 years of appointment. This must be a postgraduate course accredited by a recognised higher education provider. To ensure that SENCOs receive the training required to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, the National College for Teaching and Leadership has worked with providers to develop a set of learning outcomes. To achieve the award, SENCOs must be able to demonstrate to the provider that they are able to achieve the learning outcomes by the end of the programme. These learning outcomes can be accessed at www.gov.uk. Through the SEND Review, this Government continues to prioritise the outcomes for children and young people with SEND and focus on preparing them for adult life.

Department of Education

The Government should create an emergency fund to deal with waiting lists for autism & ADHD assessments for children AND adults.

The Government should make it a requirement for all NHS Trusts to ensure that the mental health needs of children are assessed within 4 weeks of a referral by a GP, and provide the necessary funding to create capacity for this.

-Increase funding for mental health and neurodivergency services to improve services and reduce waiting times to under 6 months

-Fund improved training for MH professionals on how to accurately identify and diagnose neurodivergency.

The Government should commission a review of how Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) assessments are managed by the NHS, including through Shared Care Agreements, and increase funding to reduce waiting times.

The Government should review guidance and funding arrangements for teaching reading, which currently focus on Systematic, Synthetic Phonics (SSP) teaching programmes. We believe teachers should be supported to teach a structured, cumulative and multi sensory approach and a range of strategies.

Allow all people to be tested for free for Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia via the NHS by specialists.

All schools, primary and secondary, have to educate students about different types of special needs; including autism, Asperger’s, ADHS and Down’s syndrome, and also mental health disorders.

To introduce routine screening at the start of the school year for scoliosis in primary and secondary school settings. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a change in the shape of the spine during the child’s growth normally linked to puberty. Early detection can effect the course of the treatment.

We want the Government to recognise the need for a system-wide review and redevelopment of school behaviour policies, support and training, to benefit young people in schools; aiming to complement and extend the DfE guidance on supporting emotional wellbeing and inclusion.

I would want the government to give school teachers the necessary training to be able to communicate with children or adults and be able to teach students, in mainstream schools.

To create a scheme for autistic adults and adults with learning difficulties, to break the stigma around adults with learning difficulties, such as autism. As 80% of us are facing poverty and unemployment, as the education system struggle to support those with learning and educational needs.

Reform home schooling policy to make it fit for purpose post-pandemic, with equality for all children regardless of where they are educated.

Revise the current transportation regulations and requirements for transporting SEN pupils to and from home and education settings, i.e. require enhanced vetting, awareness and training, vehicle CCTV with audio to protect staff and pupils, enhanced vehicle checks and good communication.