The government’s key promise to fix the broken SEND system is to make mainstream schools more inclusive. But how big a challenge will this be? Samantha Booth investigates 鈥 The government鈥檚 long-awaited SEND reforms have a more 鈥渋nclusive education system鈥. But the Department of Education鈥檚 own research last year found that while some schools have 鈥渓egitimate鈥 reasons for saying they can鈥檛 meet the needs of a pupil with education, health and care plans (EHCPs), a 鈥渕inority鈥 of schools and trusts used 鈥渋nappropriate and unlawful practices鈥 to 鈥渁void鈥 admitting these children. Schools are 鈥渟ubtly鈥 dissuading parents by claiming they could not meet their child鈥檚 needs, the research says. But it happens 鈥渙vertly鈥 too, with schools refusing admission. Schools Week wanted to establish just how inclusive mainstream schools are and the reasons behind any bad practices. We took a three-pronged approach: trying to interrogate the government鈥檚 claims over non-inclusive practice in the sector, delving into the data and gathering evidence relating to admissions. ‘I don’t feel we could meet his needs’ We emailed 68 mainstream schools posing as a parent of a child with moderate special needs, but not a formal diagnosis. Our email explained we were moving to the area in the next year and wanted to see if the school would be suitable for our child. We said the child had support from a teaching assistant with reading and behaviour management in their current school, adding they sometimes needed things such as time out and time to talk with a teacher, as well as help to catch up in reading. The sample of schools was chosen on a range of factors, including parental concerns, low numbers of EHCP pupils and a random selection. It was made up of 49 academies and 19 local authorities. The only way to get help is to demonstrate your child has failed Twenty-seven schools did not reply. Another 20 wanted a follow-up meeting or phone call and nine said the school was full. Three sent a link to their website which stated their SEND support. Just eight provided full responses, although experts say four could have acted as a deterrent. Schools Week has chosen not to name the schools. A north west primary academy said: 鈥淯nfortunately, we don’t have teaching assistants in all our classes, year 4 being one of those without a TA. 鈥淭herefore, I don’t feel we could meet his needs effectively at the moment as we just wouldn’t have the staff to support his time out and help manage his behaviour.鈥 Schools need ‘formal diagnosis’ A grammar in the north west said that without a formal diagnosis or 鈥渙fficial report we would be unable to offer support on a day-to-day basis without the funding that an official report may provide. Investigation: The broken special needs system 鈥淭hey would also not be eligible for any access arrangements for the testing process. Also, as you can imagine a grammar school is a pressured environment and a challenge for any students, as any secondary school can be.鈥 An East Midlands secondary academy said: 鈥淚 would advise you that without a formal EHCP he would not receive this support鈥. An academy in the north east said it did not have TAs in lessons unless an EHCP said they were required. If the child had SEN support, they would produce a one-page profile on his needs and support strategies for teachers to differentiate classwork for him and make 鈥渞easonable adjustments鈥 to the behaviour system. However it 鈥渟tressed鈥 that 鈥渦ltimately the school expectations are the same for all students and if students don鈥檛 respond to the support offered and continue to not follow school expectations then the behaviour system is applied as appropriate鈥. In a response to a request for comment, the school鈥檚 trust said it was 鈥渆xtremely inclusive鈥 with above-average numbers of SEN children on roll. It said that without additional income linked to the EHCP, it was 鈥渘ot financially sustainable鈥 to routinely have TAs in classes. DfE says mainstream schools are expected to contribute up to the first 拢6,000 a year towards the costs of SEN provision. Mainstream schools receive a notional SEN budget calculated by councils. Further funding can be provided by councils if a child secures an EHCP. The other schools did not respond to a request for comment. 鈥楽chools desperately need resources鈥 Matt Keer Matt Keer, a SEND specialist at Special Needs Jungle, said the responses 鈥渨ill come as no surprise鈥 to most parents. Most mainstream schools 鈥渁ren鈥檛 like this, but deterrence is easy, and consequence-light鈥. Margaret Mulholland, a SEND and inclusion specialist at ASCL, said schools often could not offer support because they 鈥渄esperately require additional resources and training鈥,combined with a lack of space, people and skills. However Ben Newmark, a teacher and parent of a child with SEND, said families were 鈥減rimed for hurt鈥, so a school鈥檚 wording 鈥渃an be so subtle as to be off-putting鈥. 鈥淲hen your child doesn’t find learning easy the only way to get them help is to demonstrate they’ve failed. It can make you feel awful 鈥 like the whole world thinks there is something wrong with your child and you鈥檙e an inconvenience. 鈥淔or inclusion you have to be enthusiastic, you have to go further to say 鈥榶ou鈥檙e all right, we鈥檙e glad you鈥檙e here鈥.鈥 Two responses were positive. One secondary in the north east said it 鈥渨ould be confident that most mainstream schools, including ourselves, would be able to provide鈥 the support required. Another London primary maintained school said that while it did not have teaching assistants in the year group, 鈥渟upport time is allocated to any children in the year group who need support over and above that of their peers鈥. 鈥榃e always do our best to accept EHCP pupils鈥 Every child with an EHCP 鈥 a legal entitlement to additional support 鈥 should be given a named school to attend. However, that school can challenge the admission on grounds that include that it is unsuitable for the child, or that their attendance would be 鈥渋ncompatible鈥 with the provision of efficient education for others or efficient use of resources. Despite this, councils can still legally force the school to admit them. We approached councils that had previously complained about schools challenging EHCP decisions. Just Redcar and Cleveland said it had the data. The council recorded 18 challenges from eight schools in 2021-22, up from eight from five schools in 2019-20. Two Outwood Grange Academies Trust schools, Normanby and Bydales, were named. The trust said it did its 鈥渂est to accept鈥 EHCP pupils, but in a 鈥渧ery small number of cases鈥 the specific needs of a child 鈥渕ay be such that the school is not best placed to support鈥. They said in most cases the council would agree, but if there were no other options they would always take the child as supporting children with SEND was 鈥渁 guiding principle of the trust鈥. Alistair Crawford, co-chair of the National Network of Specialist Provision, said schools are facing 鈥渁 range of multifaceted challenges鈥 such as funding and school building problems. But there are 鈥渂rilliant examples鈥 of schools 鈥渨orking hard to meet the needs of an increasingly complex and diverse set of learners. 鈥淲e are far less likely to hear schools say that they are unable to meet the need than we were a few years back.鈥 Can data provide any answers? This month鈥檚 SEN data revealed a 9.5 per cent rise in the number of pupils with EHCPs, rising from 355,566 to 389,171. The number of children given SEN support 鈥 without an EHCP 鈥 now sits at 13 per cent, more than 1.1 million children. Jo Hutchinson, director for SEND at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said trying to understand which schools 鈥渁dmit their fair share of pupils with SEND鈥 from data was 鈥渙ften complex鈥. Deterrence is easy, and consequence-light A 2021 EPI report found a 鈥渓ottery鈥 in identification of SEND at school level, something that new national standards seek to rectify. Ministers shelved plans to include contextual information in league tables showing inclusivity of mainstream schools after 鈥渕ixed feedback鈥 suggested it would 鈥渞isk generating perverse incentives鈥. SEND review improvement plan: Everything schools need to know Hutchinson said while there were NHS assessment services for some types of SEND, others had no common assessment criteria so it was down to a school鈥檚 decision. Basic data on how many EHCP pupils a school has is also problematic. A low number could mean a school offers effective, early support and a statutory plan isn鈥檛 needed, or that a need hasn鈥檛 yet been identified. To try and get a more accurate picture, 鈥渃atchment鈥 of year 7 pupils with EHCPs for each mainstream secondary, to see how it compared to actual intake last year. Analysts found there were almost 400 schools with at least 5 per cent of pupils with EHCPs, but 276 schools had none. A third of the latter were grammar schools. There was little difference between maintained schools or academies, but free schools tended to have slightly more representative intakes of their area. Limited state resources and funding However, the study did find differences when looking at individual regions based on their schools鈥 Ofsted ratings, as of August 2021. The three areas with the largest gaps between the expected and actual number of EHCP pupils were 鈥榠nadequate鈥 schools in London, 鈥榬equires improvement鈥 schools in the south east and 鈥榦utstanding鈥 north east schools. London鈥檚 17 鈥榠nadequate鈥 schools and the south east鈥檚 61 鈥楻I鈥 schools had, on average, nearly four times fewer EHCP pupils on roll compared with their local catchments. The reality? Schools do not have the resources Of those London schools, Gaynes School in Havering had the lowest EHCP rate (0.44 per cent of pupils on roll in 2022). It did not respond to a request for comment. In the south-east schools, 0.48 per cent of 1,400 pupils had an EHCP at Ark Alexandra Academy in East Sussex. However, the trust鈥檚 regional director, Lorraine Clarke, said it had 鈥渞obust procedures in place to identify students with additional needs鈥. 鈥淪adly, state resources and funding are limited and not all our applications [to councils for EHCPs] are successful.” Nationally, councils rejected one in five requests in 2022. Better assessment of SEND needs required The 24 鈥榦utstanding鈥 schools in the north east had, on average, three times fewer EHCP pupils on roll compared with their local catchment area. The Academy at Shotton Hall, in Durham, had the lowest with 0.26 per cent. The largest trusts 鈥 those with 10 or more secondaries 鈥 had slightly below average numbers of EHCP pupils. Two of these had way fewer pupils with EHCPs that expected, but Datalab did not name the trusts. One with 11 secondaries had a 2.3 per cent intake of EHCP pupils, compared with a 6.7 per cent estimated catchment. Another had 2.2 per cent compared with a 5.7 per cent expectation. Researchers also said some of the difference could be down to some schools being closer to special schools or other mainstream schools with dedicated SEN units. Hutchinson said the system would benefit from better assessment of SEND needs, 鈥渨hich would feed through to more consistent and useful data system. 鈥淭his would be a substantial undertaking as it involves a combination of greater capacity in NHS assessment and educational psychologist services and better training for teachers and school staff.鈥 Rise in 鈥榬esisting admission鈥 reports Councils must also submit annual reports to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA), flagging any major themes relating to school admissions. In her latest annual report published in April, the chief school adjudicator, Shan Scott, said it was 鈥渕ost concerning鈥 that councils kept reporting some schools 鈥渞esist the admission鈥 of children with EHCPs. Schools Week鈥檚 analysis of council鈥檚 own reports to the OSA, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, found that nearly 50 out of 152 submitted raised issues with admission of SEN children in some way. For usual admission points, such as reception and year 7, Bracknell Forest told the OSA that 鈥渕any schools are not open to receiving children with EHCPs鈥. It added: 鈥淚 have been told by SENCOs that there is a tension between wanting to be inclusive and feeling the pressure of knowing that the school will be judged on attainment.鈥 Suffolk said it was 鈥渘ot uncommon to receive a response to formal consultations鈥 from mainstream schools stating that they would not be 鈥渁 suitable school鈥. 鈥淲hilst the [council] challenges where appropriate to do so, in some cases where discussions have taken place between the school and a family, the family has lost confidence in the school鈥檚 ability to meet their child鈥檚 needs.鈥 Families then go on to request a place in an already stretched special school. Darlington told the OSA it was challenging 鈥渦nlawful鈥 responses from schools that declined year 7s with EHCPs. Bath and North East Somerset said recruitment difficulties had led 鈥渢o higher numbers of schools raising objections to the placement鈥. Inclusion drive 鈥榚xacerbating鈥 issues Bromley council in south-east London said some schools cited issues around support at transition between lessons, a lack of breakout space and the length of lessons being 100 minutes with no adaptation. Liverpool said schools could be 鈥渞eluctant鈥 to admit a child with an EHCP amid a 鈥渓ack of understanding鈥 that the SEND code 鈥渢rumps鈥 the admissions code. The council’s 鈥渄rive鈥 to 鈥減lace more EHCP children in mainstream education was exacerbating鈥 the issue. Schools often cited 鈥渞esource issues鈥, the council added. Merton in south London said placements of SEN pupils 鈥渃ontinue to be unevenly distributed鈥 amid 鈥渁necdotal evidence that some schools will use informal means to discourage parents of SEN pupils to apply for them鈥. Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said 鈥渕any schools always cite the high level of current SEN need 鈥 a tiring argument and one that is challenged but causes delays鈥. In her report, Scott said councils鈥 approaches to admissions of these children 鈥渄iverge 鈥 with one group content that many schools give a high priority to children with additional social or medical needs, and another group encouraging schools to have no regard to such matters but simply to act inclusively in making admissions鈥. Council reports ‘resistence and delay’ Lambeth in south London said there was 鈥渞esistance and delay鈥 in admitting SEN children without an EHCP. A spokesperson said many felt they could not 鈥渕eet the needs of the child鈥, especially in academies and foundation schools. Merton called for a 鈥渘ational reminder of the need for inclusive practice in all schools regardless of their admission authority status鈥. Margaret Mulholland They added: 鈥淭he needs of the child, rather than the financial position of the school and their approach to admissions, needs to be the driving force behind the admissions process.鈥 The councils who responded to our request did not want to name schools they had complained about. The government鈥檚 SEND review will push for early intervention in mainstream schools, mostly through the national standards 鈥 which could be three years away. But there are calls for further funding to instigate change. Mulholland added: 鈥淭he SEND Green Paper promised a plan to achieve the right support at the right time and in the right place, but the current daily reality for schools is that they do not have the resources to meet the needs of the pupils they are being asked to support.鈥 The DfE was approached for comment.
Dawn 1 July 2023 Main stream schools should cater for mainstream pupils….. it is unreasonable for them to cater for extreme special needs as this impacts on the mainstream children who get marginalised because of lack of funding and basic teacher time.
Emma Turver 2 July 2023 It’s not always about attainment. Many pupils who have ( or try to get an echp) are very bright academically. It’s no wonder many senco’s don’t understand that there are 4 areas of need, not just 1 as this article also suggests .