May 2012 - "I hope this is of interest to you..."
I usually try to do a couple of updates a year but last year actually sent out six updates as there was a lot of information to share. So I have decided to now try and send out three updates a year to coincide with the beginning of the academic terms - i.e. January (spring), April/May (summer) and September (autumn/winter).
I will also send out shorter emails in between if I think that there is something important for me to discuss.
As I always say at the start of these updates, if you haven’t read/received one of them before, I like to use them to provide useful information about what is happening in the world of SEN (Special Educational Needs). I usually only give a summary in the update and provide links to more detailed information, which people can click on to find out more if it is something they are interested in.
This update again has lots of information in it, as ever. In this update you will find articles entitled:
As I also always say, please feel free to skip to sections that interest you or read everything! The choice is always yours.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE SEN GREEN PAPER (STILL AWAITED)
At the time of my writing this, we are still awaiting the Government's response to its consultation about the SEN Green Paper, well over a year after its issue. When it does get published I will not rush out an update as there will be more than enough press releases from education/disability organisations and articles/comments in the press for you to read. As usual, I will wait for a while for the dust to settle before sharing my considered thoughts with you. You may want to read my update again on 22 March 2011 entitled "SEN Green Paper - ‘Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability’" or see my thoughts again about the Green Paper in my 6 May 2011 update entitled - 'SEN Green Paper - my considered thoughts (for what they are worth)'.
Although, like most people, I do not oppose the changes (although I am of the view that we may be better spending our valuable time and money tweaking the current system rather than trying to do a wholesale reform of it) I do want to say here though that I have been very unimpressed by the fact that the Government has taken over a year from the issue of the Green Paper to issuing its response which has been very unsettling for parents/professionals, given that the Green Paper suggests such a radical reform of the SEN framework. I doubt very much that we are going to be entertaining new legislation and a new framework by the end of the year now, given the fact that there is very little legislative time left in Parliament (given the extended time taken up by reforms to the NHS and Legal Aid systems), so much still to do and there has been so much comment made.
CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER REPORT ON SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS
You may recall that on 19 March 2012 the Children's Commissioner for England published findings from their School Exclusions Inquiry in the report, "They Never Give Up On You". It found that although most schools work hard to cater for troubled students, for the first time on record, schools admitted illegally excluding children.
As well as the report they also produced a film, an executive summary as well as the full report. I asked my colleague, Yaelle Akiva to also summarise the report for me which you can find here.
I was interested to read the section on children with SEN which stated as follows:
"SEN
1. Many who gave us evidence have suggested high rates of exclusions for children with SEN may be due to their having challenging behaviours which are assessed as Behavioural, Emotional and Social Disorders (BESD) – a category of SEN. They suggest these children, often classified as being at the School Action Plus level of the statutory SEN Code of Practice, would be expected to be many more times more likely to be excluded than their cohort given that their SEN is defined by their challenging behaviours.
2. Equally, others, including the Association of Educational Psychologists and the Special Education Consortium, suggest many schools find it difficult to manage the behaviour of children with other special needs, particularly those on the Autistic Spectrum. Some witnesses, and many of those we met on visits for this Inquiry, suggest schools exclude these children as a means of securing specialist provision or support.
3. Figures collected by the DfE bear this out for children who have received fixed-term exclusions. Those with BESD are by far the most likely to be excluded. However, these data are not published as part of the annual exclusion figures, and there is no evidence to suggest that they have influenced policy making. Equally, these data do not publish similar statistics for permanently excluded children.
4. To allow strategies to be put in place to address differential rates of exclusion, the DfE should publish these data as part of its annual return on exclusions for both fixed-term and permanent exclusions."
I was then somewhat astonished to read this in the Executive Summary regarding 'Equality':
"Equality
1. Certain groups of pupils are significantly more likely than others to be excluded. These are:
• boys;
• children from certain ethnic groups;
• children with SEN; and
• children eligible for free school meals.
2. In the course of the Inquiry, we have taken evidence from a large range of individuals and organisations, to try to identify why these differentials are so large, and what can be done to address them.
3. At our request, the DfE analysed the available data in new ways, to demonstrate the relative importance of these characteristics, one against the other and in combination. These analyses show the individual effect on the odds each characteristic has on the likelihood of a child being excluded. They show the compounded differences can be enormous.
4. To illustrate the impacts on individual children, it is useful to imagine two hypothetical young English people: Jack and Jill. They are the same age, and attend the same school. They have the same rights under the Human Rights Act, and the UNCRC.
• Jack has SEN, assessed at School Action Plus. He is of Black Caribbean background, and lives in a low-income household. He receives free school meals.
• Jill does not have SEN, is from a White British background, and lives in a more affluent household.
5. The DfE’s analysis of the data shows Jack is 168 times more likely than Jill to be permanently excluded from school before the age of 16, and 41 times more likely than she is to be excluded for a fixed term."
Can you see why I used the word 'astonishing'?
CONFERENCES/EXHIBITIONS DURING THE LAST FEW/NEXT FEW MONTHS
In my January 2012 update I said that there seemed to be very good events to attend if you were concerned with SEN matters over the forthcoming months.
Westminster Education Forum
On 26 January 2012 I attended the Westminster Education Forum Keynote Seminar on ‘The Next Steps for Supporting Young People with Special Educational Needs’. There were interesting papers given by a number of people, including Professor Neville Harris who spoke about ‘Resolving SEN Issues: a less adversarial system?’. His paper considered the issue of using mediation in SEN disputes between parents and LAs.
There was also a paper regarding the SEN Green Paper’s proposal for ‘Education, Health & Care Plans’ and discussion about the identification and assessment of SEN and the provision of SEN provision at school age. There was also a very interesting discussion about post-18 SEN provision. I have begun to realise in the past few months that I have always been very focused on children/young people from 2 to 19 years of age but that in the next few years, I may need to look at SEN provision/placement up to 25 years of age.
I also think that we are all going to need to take the question of mediation more seriously than we have been doing, provided that we can work out some of the dilemmas that mediation often causes for both parents and LAs. I do believe that there is more scope for mediation in SEN disputes, as I have been concerned in the past that parents of children with SEN can sometimes 'mediate away' their legal rights! Mediation is often referred to as 'Disagreement resolution' which IPSEA helpfully defines as follows:
"...a service aimed at securing agreement between parents and LAs and preventing appeals to SENDIST. Parents have no automatic right to services but can ask the LA to provide mediation. Using the service is voluntary and does not affect parents’ right of appeal."
Jordans Annual SEN Conference
I also attended the annual Jordans SEN Conference on 6 March 2012, both as a delegate and as a speaker. I shared a platform with people like Judge Simon Oliver, Tribunal Judge Meleri Tudor, David Wolfe QC and Jane McConnell (IPSEA). They provided updates on things like the SEN Green Paper (the response to which was supposed to be that morning but did not materialise), a legal update, a Tribunal Update, a Transport update, a Disability Discrimination update.
I spoke about the Annual Review process and delivered a paper called ‘Is an Annual Review now just an Annual Review? (The New Right of Appeal against a decision not to amend a statement following an Annual Review – 18 months on)’. In it I discussed the new right for parents to appeal against the contents of their child’s statement of SEN if the local authority (LA) refuses to amend it following an Annual Review. It seemed to be warmly received. Jordans has kindly allowed me to put my paper on my website and you can read it/download it for yourself here if this is of interest to you.
SENCO Update - The SEN Green Paper & Achievement for All’
I also attended a one day national conference (organised in conjunction with SENCO Update) on 15 March 2012 entitled ‘The SEN Green Paper & Achievement for All’ which was directed at SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators).
There were four keynote speeches including one from Brian Lamb OBE, the author of the Lamb Inquiry a couple of years ago (see my updates on 29 November 2009 - "Update on The Lamb Inquiry" and 12 April 2010 - "Children Schools and Families Act 2010 Becomes Law" whose recommendation it was to implement the new right of appeal for parents to appeal after Annual Reviews as I have described above. Brian is now the Chair of Achievement for All, a new charity which aims to support and improve the outcomes of children with SEN.
During the day there was a presentation focusing on the role of the SENCO in an area of change and I was extremely impressed by one of the speakers, Gareth Morewood, Director of Curriculum Support (aka SENCO) at a maintained mainstream school, who provided a school’s perspective on the new Ofsted Inspection criteria. I have noticed that there has been an increasing amount of visitors to our website over the past few years not only from parents of children with SEN (and those who support them) but also from people who have identified themselves as SENCOs. I am considering putting a separate section on the website in due course directed towards SENCOs. Perhaps if you are a SENCO reading this yourself and think this will be a useful addition you could let me know by answering the survey at the end of the update.
For now, I understand that Gareth has written a number of articles which are freely available on his website here and has also published an ebook recently entitled "The role of the SENCo: an insider’s guide, with practical tips and tools for inclusion" which may be of interest if you are a SENCO or have duties/aspirations in that direction. I also highly recommend getting the recently published 2nd edition of the 'SENCO handbook' although it is quite expensive.
I should also say that I attended three ‘streamed’ sessions during the day, one of which was given by Holly Evans, an ADHD advisory teacher entitled ‘Harnessing the involvement of parents/carers in their child’s education to encourage and support the highest aspirations’ which I learnt a lot from. I also went to a couple of presentations on potential legal implications in the revised statutory assessment process and for teachers of newly converted Academies (see 23 June 2010 - "Academies & SEN" and ‘A Can of Worms’ website by David Wolfe QC).
Kidz in the Middle/Naidex National/Kidz South/Naidex South/Kidz North/SENCO Update
Finally (for this section at least) I attended the ‘Kidz in the Middle’ exhibition in Coventry on 29 March 2012 organised by Disabled Living. I actually also delivered an afternoon seminar on ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About the Law on SEN But Were Too Afraid to Ask!’ based on my 7 day email/video course, which I know that a number of people have already seen but which you can find here if you are interested.
I hope to be able to deliver this seminar again at 'Kidz South' which is being held on Thursday, 14th June 2012 at the Rivermead Leisure Complex, Reading. There is also a 'Kidz up North' exhibition on Thursday, 29th November 2012 at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton for those of you who are based in the north, which I don't think I will be going to.
I am planning to visit a couple of future exhibitions dedicated to children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families/carers or other professionals who work with them over the next few months such as 'Naidex National' in Birmingham on 1-3 May 2012 and 'Naidex South' on 17-18 October 2012.
I also intend to attend the 10th annual SENCO Update one day National Conference on 15 May 2012 in Central London which looks very good.
POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF ACE (Advisory Centre for Education) ADVICE LINE
I was very saddened to hear again recently of the need for an emergency appeal by ACE (the Advisory Centre for Education). I have always been a supporter of advice lines like ACE's who do sterling work in supporting parents with educational issues like Admissions, Exclusions, Discrimination, Transport etc. as well as SEN issues.
Rather than me telling you more myself, I hope ACE will not mind if I just repeat the text of the email that they sent to me and others:
"We are writing to all our members and supporters to ask for your help. A vital part of ACE's work is in providing parents with advice on all aspects of state-funded education. One of the ways we do this is through our telephone advice line. As a member you may well have referred parents to the advice line for specialist help.
We are committed to continuing to support families in this way, but we need money to do this. ACE now receives no government funding. We are working hard to obtain alternative funding but economic circumstances are challenging.
Parents’ advice line under threat
If there is no change in our situation ACE’s advice line for parents is likely to have to close in the near future.
We need your help to help save this service. ACE is unique as:
“For us as parents, it is very reassuring that there is free, competent advice on complicated educational matters and it is easy to access. A big thank you to ACE – a reliable friend.”
Why ACE is still needed
ACE has been advising parents on education matters for over 50 years. The education landscape is very different from when we were founded by Michael Young in 1960, but our advice is needed more than ever.
The education system is undergoing rapid change and with many schools obtaining increased autonomy as academies, it is becoming increasingly fragmented.
It is becoming harder for parents, especially for those from disadvantaged groups, to navigate the system and exercise the choice that the government says they should have. Access to sound independent advice is crucial to ensuring that all children are able to make the most of their education.
ACE needs the help of friends and supporters more than ever to overcome the present crisis
What you can do
I hope that you may be able to help ACE in some way.
SEND TRIBUNAL UPDATE
My next full update will now not be until the beginning of the next academic year at the start of the autumn term in September 2012 so I am going to try and let you know what other things may be coming up before then.
If you are involved in the field of SEN, like me, you will know that the next few months are going to be extremely busy as it is the main 'season’ again for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal) appeal hearings, with many hearings taking place between May - July, particularly in relation to children who are transferring from primary to secondary school (known as ‘Phase Transfers’).
The good news is that the Tribunal seems to now be settling down after a number of challenges it has had with reorganisation during the past few years. Also the Tribunal has now made a decision to avoid listing hearings during the last week in July as well as during the August and Christmas holidays in order to avoid the need to reschedule hearings .
Last year (summer 2011) the Tribunal ambitiously tried to compress the normal 20 week timetable into 8 weeks for any Phase Transfer appeals which caused many difficulties for parents (and their representatives) and LAs. However, this year they are going to try and deal with Phase Transfer cases using a 12 week timetable and, even though the regulations do not specifically provide for secondary to post-16 transfers as a ‘Phase Transfer’ they say that they are also going to deal with these cases using the shortened timetable; they realise that it is as important for children/young people to know where they are going in September for post-16 education as well as knowing where they are transferring to for their secondary education.
The Tribunal has also been able to recruit/train an increased number of Tribunal Judges during the busy period.
AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE...
If you have read my updates before you will know that I usually like to end them on a lighter note. In this update I want to share two things with you. The first is about the amusing perspective that having/being near a child with SEN can give you. The second, although directed at SENCOs, is something that I think that we all are familiar with.
Firstly, a few weeks ago I came across an article by the author, Kathy Lette, who is publicising her book 'The Boy Who Fell To Earth' describing some of her experiences growing up with her (now 21 years old) son, Julius, who has Asperger's Syndrome and entitled "When I say 'you'll have to fight me for the last cupcake' he squares up", which I want to share with you here.
Although it is a long article, I encourage you to read it in full for yourself, whether or not you have a child with/work with children with Autism or, for that matter, any other Types of SEN/Disability.
My favourite part is where she writes:
"When a kindergarten teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, logic-ally, ‘taller’. Then he asked her if she would rather be buoyant or flamboyant. When I whispered to him once that a politician we were about to meet was ‘two-faced’, he immediately asked her why, if she had two faces, was she wearing that one, as it was so old and wrinkly?"
And secondly, one of the speakers I saw at the SENCO Update conference in March touched my funny bone when talking about how SENCOs/people try to keep on top of things at work in our busy lives these days.
She put up a slide which showed two employees at their desks talking to each other over a cup of coffee with one saying ‘on Mondays, I get ready to plan my week. On Tuesdays, I plan my week. On Wednesdays, I revise my plan for the week. On Thursdays, I put my plan for the week into my computer. On Fridays, I think about starting my plan for next week!’
Sound familiar?
With best wishes (both for now and for a good summer).
Douglas
P. S. I always find it extremely helpful to get feedback about my updates (and particularly from SENCOs in this one). Please take a minute to tell me what you think by clicking on May 2012 Update - "Your Thoughts"'. Many thanks in advance if you get the chance to do this.
I will also send out shorter emails in between if I think that there is something important for me to discuss.
As I always say at the start of these updates, if you haven’t read/received one of them before, I like to use them to provide useful information about what is happening in the world of SEN (Special Educational Needs). I usually only give a summary in the update and provide links to more detailed information, which people can click on to find out more if it is something they are interested in.
This update again has lots of information in it, as ever. In this update you will find articles entitled:
- Government Response To The SEN Green Paper (Still Awaited)
- Children's Commissioner Report On School Exclusions
- Conferences/Exhibitions During The Last Few/Next Few Months
- Potential Closure Of ACE (Advisory Centre Of Education) Advice Line
- SEND Tribunal Update
- And On A Lighter Note...
As I also always say, please feel free to skip to sections that interest you or read everything! The choice is always yours.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE SEN GREEN PAPER (STILL AWAITED)
At the time of my writing this, we are still awaiting the Government's response to its consultation about the SEN Green Paper, well over a year after its issue. When it does get published I will not rush out an update as there will be more than enough press releases from education/disability organisations and articles/comments in the press for you to read. As usual, I will wait for a while for the dust to settle before sharing my considered thoughts with you. You may want to read my update again on 22 March 2011 entitled "SEN Green Paper - ‘Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability’" or see my thoughts again about the Green Paper in my 6 May 2011 update entitled - 'SEN Green Paper - my considered thoughts (for what they are worth)'.
Although, like most people, I do not oppose the changes (although I am of the view that we may be better spending our valuable time and money tweaking the current system rather than trying to do a wholesale reform of it) I do want to say here though that I have been very unimpressed by the fact that the Government has taken over a year from the issue of the Green Paper to issuing its response which has been very unsettling for parents/professionals, given that the Green Paper suggests such a radical reform of the SEN framework. I doubt very much that we are going to be entertaining new legislation and a new framework by the end of the year now, given the fact that there is very little legislative time left in Parliament (given the extended time taken up by reforms to the NHS and Legal Aid systems), so much still to do and there has been so much comment made.
CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER REPORT ON SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS
You may recall that on 19 March 2012 the Children's Commissioner for England published findings from their School Exclusions Inquiry in the report, "They Never Give Up On You". It found that although most schools work hard to cater for troubled students, for the first time on record, schools admitted illegally excluding children.
As well as the report they also produced a film, an executive summary as well as the full report. I asked my colleague, Yaelle Akiva to also summarise the report for me which you can find here.
I was interested to read the section on children with SEN which stated as follows:
"SEN
1. Many who gave us evidence have suggested high rates of exclusions for children with SEN may be due to their having challenging behaviours which are assessed as Behavioural, Emotional and Social Disorders (BESD) – a category of SEN. They suggest these children, often classified as being at the School Action Plus level of the statutory SEN Code of Practice, would be expected to be many more times more likely to be excluded than their cohort given that their SEN is defined by their challenging behaviours.
2. Equally, others, including the Association of Educational Psychologists and the Special Education Consortium, suggest many schools find it difficult to manage the behaviour of children with other special needs, particularly those on the Autistic Spectrum. Some witnesses, and many of those we met on visits for this Inquiry, suggest schools exclude these children as a means of securing specialist provision or support.
3. Figures collected by the DfE bear this out for children who have received fixed-term exclusions. Those with BESD are by far the most likely to be excluded. However, these data are not published as part of the annual exclusion figures, and there is no evidence to suggest that they have influenced policy making. Equally, these data do not publish similar statistics for permanently excluded children.
4. To allow strategies to be put in place to address differential rates of exclusion, the DfE should publish these data as part of its annual return on exclusions for both fixed-term and permanent exclusions."
I was then somewhat astonished to read this in the Executive Summary regarding 'Equality':
"Equality
1. Certain groups of pupils are significantly more likely than others to be excluded. These are:
• boys;
• children from certain ethnic groups;
• children with SEN; and
• children eligible for free school meals.
2. In the course of the Inquiry, we have taken evidence from a large range of individuals and organisations, to try to identify why these differentials are so large, and what can be done to address them.
3. At our request, the DfE analysed the available data in new ways, to demonstrate the relative importance of these characteristics, one against the other and in combination. These analyses show the individual effect on the odds each characteristic has on the likelihood of a child being excluded. They show the compounded differences can be enormous.
4. To illustrate the impacts on individual children, it is useful to imagine two hypothetical young English people: Jack and Jill. They are the same age, and attend the same school. They have the same rights under the Human Rights Act, and the UNCRC.
• Jack has SEN, assessed at School Action Plus. He is of Black Caribbean background, and lives in a low-income household. He receives free school meals.
• Jill does not have SEN, is from a White British background, and lives in a more affluent household.
5. The DfE’s analysis of the data shows Jack is 168 times more likely than Jill to be permanently excluded from school before the age of 16, and 41 times more likely than she is to be excluded for a fixed term."
Can you see why I used the word 'astonishing'?
CONFERENCES/EXHIBITIONS DURING THE LAST FEW/NEXT FEW MONTHS
In my January 2012 update I said that there seemed to be very good events to attend if you were concerned with SEN matters over the forthcoming months.
Westminster Education Forum
On 26 January 2012 I attended the Westminster Education Forum Keynote Seminar on ‘The Next Steps for Supporting Young People with Special Educational Needs’. There were interesting papers given by a number of people, including Professor Neville Harris who spoke about ‘Resolving SEN Issues: a less adversarial system?’. His paper considered the issue of using mediation in SEN disputes between parents and LAs.
There was also a paper regarding the SEN Green Paper’s proposal for ‘Education, Health & Care Plans’ and discussion about the identification and assessment of SEN and the provision of SEN provision at school age. There was also a very interesting discussion about post-18 SEN provision. I have begun to realise in the past few months that I have always been very focused on children/young people from 2 to 19 years of age but that in the next few years, I may need to look at SEN provision/placement up to 25 years of age.
I also think that we are all going to need to take the question of mediation more seriously than we have been doing, provided that we can work out some of the dilemmas that mediation often causes for both parents and LAs. I do believe that there is more scope for mediation in SEN disputes, as I have been concerned in the past that parents of children with SEN can sometimes 'mediate away' their legal rights! Mediation is often referred to as 'Disagreement resolution' which IPSEA helpfully defines as follows:
"...a service aimed at securing agreement between parents and LAs and preventing appeals to SENDIST. Parents have no automatic right to services but can ask the LA to provide mediation. Using the service is voluntary and does not affect parents’ right of appeal."
Jordans Annual SEN Conference
I also attended the annual Jordans SEN Conference on 6 March 2012, both as a delegate and as a speaker. I shared a platform with people like Judge Simon Oliver, Tribunal Judge Meleri Tudor, David Wolfe QC and Jane McConnell (IPSEA). They provided updates on things like the SEN Green Paper (the response to which was supposed to be that morning but did not materialise), a legal update, a Tribunal Update, a Transport update, a Disability Discrimination update.
I spoke about the Annual Review process and delivered a paper called ‘Is an Annual Review now just an Annual Review? (The New Right of Appeal against a decision not to amend a statement following an Annual Review – 18 months on)’. In it I discussed the new right for parents to appeal against the contents of their child’s statement of SEN if the local authority (LA) refuses to amend it following an Annual Review. It seemed to be warmly received. Jordans has kindly allowed me to put my paper on my website and you can read it/download it for yourself here if this is of interest to you.
SENCO Update - The SEN Green Paper & Achievement for All’
I also attended a one day national conference (organised in conjunction with SENCO Update) on 15 March 2012 entitled ‘The SEN Green Paper & Achievement for All’ which was directed at SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators).
There were four keynote speeches including one from Brian Lamb OBE, the author of the Lamb Inquiry a couple of years ago (see my updates on 29 November 2009 - "Update on The Lamb Inquiry" and 12 April 2010 - "Children Schools and Families Act 2010 Becomes Law" whose recommendation it was to implement the new right of appeal for parents to appeal after Annual Reviews as I have described above. Brian is now the Chair of Achievement for All, a new charity which aims to support and improve the outcomes of children with SEN.
During the day there was a presentation focusing on the role of the SENCO in an area of change and I was extremely impressed by one of the speakers, Gareth Morewood, Director of Curriculum Support (aka SENCO) at a maintained mainstream school, who provided a school’s perspective on the new Ofsted Inspection criteria. I have noticed that there has been an increasing amount of visitors to our website over the past few years not only from parents of children with SEN (and those who support them) but also from people who have identified themselves as SENCOs. I am considering putting a separate section on the website in due course directed towards SENCOs. Perhaps if you are a SENCO reading this yourself and think this will be a useful addition you could let me know by answering the survey at the end of the update.
For now, I understand that Gareth has written a number of articles which are freely available on his website here and has also published an ebook recently entitled "The role of the SENCo: an insider’s guide, with practical tips and tools for inclusion" which may be of interest if you are a SENCO or have duties/aspirations in that direction. I also highly recommend getting the recently published 2nd edition of the 'SENCO handbook' although it is quite expensive.
I should also say that I attended three ‘streamed’ sessions during the day, one of which was given by Holly Evans, an ADHD advisory teacher entitled ‘Harnessing the involvement of parents/carers in their child’s education to encourage and support the highest aspirations’ which I learnt a lot from. I also went to a couple of presentations on potential legal implications in the revised statutory assessment process and for teachers of newly converted Academies (see 23 June 2010 - "Academies & SEN" and ‘A Can of Worms’ website by David Wolfe QC).
Kidz in the Middle/Naidex National/Kidz South/Naidex South/Kidz North/SENCO Update
Finally (for this section at least) I attended the ‘Kidz in the Middle’ exhibition in Coventry on 29 March 2012 organised by Disabled Living. I actually also delivered an afternoon seminar on ‘Everything You Wanted to Know About the Law on SEN But Were Too Afraid to Ask!’ based on my 7 day email/video course, which I know that a number of people have already seen but which you can find here if you are interested.
I hope to be able to deliver this seminar again at 'Kidz South' which is being held on Thursday, 14th June 2012 at the Rivermead Leisure Complex, Reading. There is also a 'Kidz up North' exhibition on Thursday, 29th November 2012 at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton for those of you who are based in the north, which I don't think I will be going to.
I am planning to visit a couple of future exhibitions dedicated to children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families/carers or other professionals who work with them over the next few months such as 'Naidex National' in Birmingham on 1-3 May 2012 and 'Naidex South' on 17-18 October 2012.
I also intend to attend the 10th annual SENCO Update one day National Conference on 15 May 2012 in Central London which looks very good.
POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF ACE (Advisory Centre for Education) ADVICE LINE
I was very saddened to hear again recently of the need for an emergency appeal by ACE (the Advisory Centre for Education). I have always been a supporter of advice lines like ACE's who do sterling work in supporting parents with educational issues like Admissions, Exclusions, Discrimination, Transport etc. as well as SEN issues.
Rather than me telling you more myself, I hope ACE will not mind if I just repeat the text of the email that they sent to me and others:
"We are writing to all our members and supporters to ask for your help. A vital part of ACE's work is in providing parents with advice on all aspects of state-funded education. One of the ways we do this is through our telephone advice line. As a member you may well have referred parents to the advice line for specialist help.
We are committed to continuing to support families in this way, but we need money to do this. ACE now receives no government funding. We are working hard to obtain alternative funding but economic circumstances are challenging.
Parents’ advice line under threat
If there is no change in our situation ACE’s advice line for parents is likely to have to close in the near future.
We need your help to help save this service. ACE is unique as:
- ACE's advice is expert and personal. Many of our callers have complex problems and advice is tailored to their particular circumstances
- ACE's advice line is a one-stop shop, giving advice on all aspects of education.
- ACE's advice line is free of charge, open to all, confidential and anonymous
“For us as parents, it is very reassuring that there is free, competent advice on complicated educational matters and it is easy to access. A big thank you to ACE – a reliable friend.”
Why ACE is still needed
ACE has been advising parents on education matters for over 50 years. The education landscape is very different from when we were founded by Michael Young in 1960, but our advice is needed more than ever.
The education system is undergoing rapid change and with many schools obtaining increased autonomy as academies, it is becoming increasingly fragmented.
It is becoming harder for parents, especially for those from disadvantaged groups, to navigate the system and exercise the choice that the government says they should have. Access to sound independent advice is crucial to ensuring that all children are able to make the most of their education.
ACE needs the help of friends and supporters more than ever to overcome the present crisis
What you can do
- Make a personal donation
- Spread the word about our emergency appeal.
- Use your contacts
- charitable trusts and foundations
- companies that may be able to make a donation or sponsor part of our work
- influential individuals
I hope that you may be able to help ACE in some way.
SEND TRIBUNAL UPDATE
My next full update will now not be until the beginning of the next academic year at the start of the autumn term in September 2012 so I am going to try and let you know what other things may be coming up before then.
If you are involved in the field of SEN, like me, you will know that the next few months are going to be extremely busy as it is the main 'season’ again for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal) appeal hearings, with many hearings taking place between May - July, particularly in relation to children who are transferring from primary to secondary school (known as ‘Phase Transfers’).
The good news is that the Tribunal seems to now be settling down after a number of challenges it has had with reorganisation during the past few years. Also the Tribunal has now made a decision to avoid listing hearings during the last week in July as well as during the August and Christmas holidays in order to avoid the need to reschedule hearings .
Last year (summer 2011) the Tribunal ambitiously tried to compress the normal 20 week timetable into 8 weeks for any Phase Transfer appeals which caused many difficulties for parents (and their representatives) and LAs. However, this year they are going to try and deal with Phase Transfer cases using a 12 week timetable and, even though the regulations do not specifically provide for secondary to post-16 transfers as a ‘Phase Transfer’ they say that they are also going to deal with these cases using the shortened timetable; they realise that it is as important for children/young people to know where they are going in September for post-16 education as well as knowing where they are transferring to for their secondary education.
The Tribunal has also been able to recruit/train an increased number of Tribunal Judges during the busy period.
AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE...
If you have read my updates before you will know that I usually like to end them on a lighter note. In this update I want to share two things with you. The first is about the amusing perspective that having/being near a child with SEN can give you. The second, although directed at SENCOs, is something that I think that we all are familiar with.
Firstly, a few weeks ago I came across an article by the author, Kathy Lette, who is publicising her book 'The Boy Who Fell To Earth' describing some of her experiences growing up with her (now 21 years old) son, Julius, who has Asperger's Syndrome and entitled "When I say 'you'll have to fight me for the last cupcake' he squares up", which I want to share with you here.
Although it is a long article, I encourage you to read it in full for yourself, whether or not you have a child with/work with children with Autism or, for that matter, any other Types of SEN/Disability.
My favourite part is where she writes:
"When a kindergarten teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, logic-ally, ‘taller’. Then he asked her if she would rather be buoyant or flamboyant. When I whispered to him once that a politician we were about to meet was ‘two-faced’, he immediately asked her why, if she had two faces, was she wearing that one, as it was so old and wrinkly?"
And secondly, one of the speakers I saw at the SENCO Update conference in March touched my funny bone when talking about how SENCOs/people try to keep on top of things at work in our busy lives these days.
She put up a slide which showed two employees at their desks talking to each other over a cup of coffee with one saying ‘on Mondays, I get ready to plan my week. On Tuesdays, I plan my week. On Wednesdays, I revise my plan for the week. On Thursdays, I put my plan for the week into my computer. On Fridays, I think about starting my plan for next week!’
Sound familiar?
With best wishes (both for now and for a good summer).
Douglas
P. S. I always find it extremely helpful to get feedback about my updates (and particularly from SENCOs in this one). Please take a minute to tell me what you think by clicking on May 2012 Update - "Your Thoughts"'. Many thanks in advance if you get the chance to do this.
