Private school fees - act now for SEND!

I have been through the EHCP system. You absolutely would not do it unless you had to. For one thing you have to write thousands of words about what a mess your child is, which is thoroughly depressing. For another thing it is a huge amount of work. For me it's been like a second job (unpaid of course).

If children's needs are met early on, it's often possible to avoid higher levels of provision.

The current system forces parents to send kids to unsuitable schools to let them fail, to gather evidence that a different school is needed. At that point sometimes the child can't attend.

There absolutely are kids in private schools whose needs would merit an EHCP but they don't need one (as long as they stay in the private system) because their needs are met.

Just like there are people paying for private healthcare who don't appear in the waiting list statistics because they didn't seek NHS treatment.

I also have experience of state schools failing my child.
I also have experience of fighting for an ECHP. For years. And then teachers not following it.
I have experience of watching my child be failed by their school. And falling apart.

And I still think that if you are contacting your MP it should be to fight for the many children, not just your own.

How do you know she isn't campaigning for all children with SEND. A lot of SEND parents do. Weird comment.

Ha! No.

However, I will email my local labour MP to express my total support for adding VAT to ALL private school fees. Thanks for the reminder!

My DC has SEN and we pay for schooling. Not private but online - after fighting for years for an ECHP I just didn't have any fight left in me to make every single teacher actually implement it.

If I write to my MP it will be to address SEN provision for ALL kids. I am not sure if our fees will increase or not, but I won't be against it if they do. I realise I've been privileged to have a choice of education for my DC, and that there are far too many kids who don't have that.

I'd like MPs to help kids with SEN whose families can't afford to opt out of failing systems.
I pay for education, therapy, medication, therapeutic activities etc. It.means my child isn't suicidal and can learn. But that should be the baseline for all kids, not just in families lucky enough be able to choose to pay for it.

And that's not even before we start thinking about children living in hostels, who are hungry, who don't have a bed.

I'd feel like a bit of a twat asking my MP to ignore those and worry about the lucky few losing a tax break.

I won't be signing any such petition. This is petitioning for a cause that benefits the more priviledged few. It's totally wrong.

Better send funding is a far better idea for campaigning. If your child doesn't have a ehcp then they cannot have needs that require a private education, you are choosing it

nah, thank you. Do you just consider private school Send issues because it affects you? Send affects everyone. Lobby your MP for better general provision and funding instead.

But a lot of these private places are being funded by cash-strapped local authorities at the expense of parents with SEND children who cannot afford the lawyers to force the LA to send their child private. Our LA is millions overspent because of this and now has pulled back on issuing EHCPs for this reason. Its scandalous.

The SEND system is broken. I will campaign to improve it for the majority not for the minority.

we need a system whereby no parent is having spend a fortune on school fees or lawyers just to get an education. That automatically puts those who have parents who can’t do that at a disadvantage.

My children absolutely fall into this category and I am going into more and more debt to keep them at the school that can cater to their needs and support their mental health. I would hope it goes without saying that I would absolutely love for the state system to be adequate but it isn't and the key point is that this policy will not change that in ANY way. Not one. There will be children negatively affected and none positively - the mythical 6500 maths teachers?? I am a teacher. I know the sector from the inside and this will not help. I am perfectly capable of writing more than one email so will happily contact my MP on this issue and ALSO the far wider and more challenging issue of all the reasons why the state system and CAMHS and the intersection of the two are fucked and letting down thousands of kids. I'd actually be less opposed to the VAT if it was being channelled into that.

Also I’d be really interested in the numbers here, we know already that only 6% of kids attend a private school. Those with really serious SEN can get an EHCP (totally agree it’s a fight but it can be done especially if you can afford a solicitor). So this leaves an absolutely minuscule proportion of people who have a degree of SEN but not serious enough for an EHCP, and whose parents can’t now afford the VAT (which technically should really have been being paid all along).

Compared to the vast numbers of kids in the state sector who don’t have a qualified teacher, whose school is falling apart or who can’t go to school at all because their needs are not catered for at all this is an absolute niche issue.

I have no skin in this my Disabled child is very well supported in his fabulous special school
However i know there are many children that fall through the cracks and SEN needs to improve for all not just a few.

@coupdetonnerre I imagine many people “did something” by voting for a Labour government who we now fully expect and hope will push this policy through!

I've already written to my MP to say I disagree with vat on private schools for any child but mentioned the issues for children with SEN in state school too.

My MP is a Tory and gives zero f’s about send so it would be pointless from past experience

LOL. No.

If it were possible to get an EHCP without years of effort and knock backs, then some of these points would be more reasonable and Labour's policy would make more sense.

My child went to a private primary where her SEN needs were catered for well (her needs only became apparent when she was about 6). Because her needs were well catered for, the LA said she didn't need an EHCP...

Fortunately SENDIST disagreed and she now has an EHCP and (hopefully) her needs will continue to be met at the state secondary school she's going to.

I'm not about to judge parents who made different decisions.

In the long run we obviously need a better, fairer education system but in the short run it's extremely difficult to see how forcing a child out of a school where their needs are met will help them, the school they go to or the children already at that school.

We're not each other's enemies. Are we?

It’s ridiculous to expect exemptions to be handed out largely on the parents say at all. Children without an EHCP but with needs so severe they cannot be accommodated in mainstream school will not be the norm at all.

If local authorities receive more funding for SEND but then also have more SEND students requiring services because their current private placements become unaffordable, then surely the position of the people who can't afford it hasn't actually changed.

What don't you understand?
Ther are a large number of children with SEN that slip through the net
But their parents would never be able to pay for private schools
Surely it's better to campaign for equality for all children not just for those whose parents can just about afford or.