Scrapping ehcp 's for children in mainstream school

[elliejjtiny]

I can't do a link on my tablet but contact a family have said on their Facebook page about ehcp's being scrapped for children in mainstream school. Not sure if it happening or just being discussed.

I have 2 dc in mainstream school with an ehcp. Dc4 has learning disabilities and is thriving with support. Dc5 has autism and is emotionally like a toddler at age 11. He wouldn't be safe at school without his ehcp. There are loads of children who are like them in mainstream school who would have been in special needs school when I was young.

The system is entirely too dependent on people doing the right thing in the face of considerable pressure to do the easier thing.

As a teacher and a senco I have fought and fought alongside parents for children to get EHCPs. Half the time it has been completely pointless as the support they are entitled to has not been available for them once (the very little) funding has been allocated. The whole system is an absolute disgrace.

Another issue surrounding support for children with send needs / EHCPs in schools is the pay increase not being fully funded but having to come out of school budgets.

Teachers went on strike about this last time and unions are discussing striking again but they need to make it clear that the argument is how it affects the school budget and not just to come across as teachers want more money.

The idea of only children in soecial schools having ehcps simple doesn't make any sense.

There will always be a spectrum of different levels of additional needs so some children will only be able to access any education at all at a soecial school, some will be capable of accessing education at a mainstream school IF additional support is provided and some will be fine without additional support. Removing the rights of that middle category to have the additional support they need is simply perverse to start off with. And an assessment process which has only 2 possible outcomes of "additional needs severe enough to warrant a place in a special school" or "no problens here, keep them in mainstream with no adjustments" is insane. If mainsteam schools are going to be expected to educate the children whose needs are mild enough to be realistically met in mainstream then the schools need the external tool of the ehcp to have evidence of the amount of such support they need to give.

The system is broken
taking too long to get them
and support being patchy even when they are in place
but it’s also clear that the current approach is very expensive

so looking at the whole special needs support end to end seems a good idea but how to do it cheaper is anyone’s guess

I feel personally that adopting the approach I've heard (some?) other developed countries have, where all children see a paediatrician at least annually, would help. The UK approach is to let problems get really serious before they are even named, never mind treated or supported.

As a large fraction of needs are autistic spectrum related, being able to get those diagnoses in primary before waiting for a crisis to occur in secondary, would be of huge benefit. Only healthcare professionals can diagnose. At the moment they're leaving it up to schools and parents mostly. We need expert advice! Much earlier!!

Finding out your child is autistic or needs ADHD meds when they're already in, or approaching, the GCSE years is something parents and schools can't do much effectively about. It's a crisis by that point.

We need to get this right before children turn 10, and secondary schools need much better equipping for a therapeutic, inclusive approach in KS3.

The government should do this to get the mums back into work, even if they don't much care about the kids. Too many mums are essentially working unpaid for the LAs.

Totally agree with this. When my older 2 dc were little the health visitors used to do regular development checks. When my dc3 was little things had changed and nurseries were doing some of the checks instead although dc3 didn't go to nursery so the hv saw him fairly regularly. With dc4 and dc5 the health visitor only saw them when they were babies and I think it's got worse since then.

Having said that, my older 2 weren't diagnosed with autism until they were older, despite having regular health visitor checks and seeing a paediatrician.

I don't think my 12 year old would have been diagnosed with autism even now if I didn't have some experience and the money to pay for a private assessment. I actually thought it was ADHD (she was diagnosed with both at 7).

Far too much is being left up to parents (mostly mums) (and teachers) (also mostly mums) in this country.

Far too much is being paid for out of pocket.

There have been so many short termist governments that there's now a massive backlog maintenance bill. Unsurprisingly.

I totally agree that seeing a paediatrician annually is a great idea.

I had a delayed dc who failed almost every aspect of their two year check. My dm kept asking me how they were being followed up. I was waitIng and waiting. In the end there was NO follow up. No referrals ever materialised, not to physio, not to SALT, not to a developmental Paed. Not even a follow up appointment with the HV.

We would have absolutely no support for dc now if we hadn’t done private diagnosis and got an EHCP in place that helps dc and dc can manage in ms but ONLY with the support provided by the EHCP.

All scrapping EHCPs in ms would do is to reduce educational attainment further, make outcomes even worse costing the NHS more for mental heath support etc and lead to even more children with SEND struggling to find jobs and adding to the benefits bill. It is not going to save the government any money at all longer term.

Just reposting the petition link again in case anyone wants to sign and hasn’t yet. It’s doing well and now up to 67,000 signed but they need 100,000 signed to get a debate in parliament.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/711021

It is happening already in my area by stealth with provision in Section F being struck out and put under Quality First Teaching which we all know is not going to happen. It’s a battle to get schools to provide it when it’s specific and quantified. We have managed to get it reinstated by threatening a judicial review for this year but god knows what will happen in the future. I am glad that my DS is coming to the end of his school career but fear for those starting out.

All my ds provision is speech and language related and that is going to be the first to be hit. Apparently there are going to be all these speech and language therapists in schools yet we are owed around 40 hours therapy due to staffing 🤷‍♀️. The quality of NHS therapy ia frankly appalling and the reason my DS has made so much progress is that we have paid for weekly therapy for 4 years. Very expensive and acutely aware that we are lucky that we can afford this.

Ok so what exactly are they planning to do?

@GoldLash l’m still waiting to see anyone reporting on the marvellous effects of the private school VAT which was going to really improve our state schools. They’ve been collecting this since Jan so this should be starting to become visible in state schools already, no?

Or could it be that it…isn’t….?

Much like what would happen if they cut EHCPs and the money spent on those would just pour into schools to improve SEND…well I’m not holding my breath.

I'm a Leeds sendco and for many many years we were told to only apply for an EHCP if a child needed a specialist place. However they did fund individual SEN without EHCP in mainstream. About 2 years ago this all changed as they had been told they weren't allowed to do this anymore and the individual funding stopped and all of those kids now needed and EHCP. Along with all new funding requests needing and EHCP. As you can imagine the can't meet the need for this number of EHCP's and they are taking over a year as standard.
The council is gonna be mega pissed if they have to do a U turn!

Well let’s hope that children are the forefront of any changes, this is not simply about cost. My eldest dd is sitting her A-Levels at the moment with an unconditional offer at a uni. There is NO way she would have even passed GCSES without her EHCP plan (which she’s had since nursery as profoundly deaf). She had no other learning difficulties so wouldn’t hit criteria for a special school anyway- like pp say there a huge number of children who can manage in mainstream with the plan, and specialist schools are in such demand anyway as not enough places I’m unsure how this will work ?

a teacher friend recently told me how even with EHCP in place a lot of children aren’t getting all their support as help is distributed around the class and a lot of children are struggling without plans so need a lot of teacher/ TA help. I don’t think things are improving in schools tbh ! I feel for teachers atm it’s a hard job !

@User2346 I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. Do sign and share the petition. I think this will only be headed off if enough fuss is made now. It is awful already and would only get worse with this plan.

Bumping for the evening crowd. Please sign to stop this.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/711021

What annoys me is to hoops you have to jump through to even get an EHCP. The criteria is very particular and I was told a child has to struggle significantly in one area to be eligible. My child struggled across several areas and the senco had to really push for it - we got it.

Here we are now with my 12 year old in a mainstream setting, with an attached SEN unit so that’s ideal for them. DC still can’t read or write though - to the level of a 6 year old at best. So mainstream would be no good, but I don’t think a special school would be suitable either, because DC doesn’t have profound and multiple special needs.

Where the heck would children like my child go? So stressful and worrying

@TheBlueUniform I’m so sorry to hear this is worrying for you too. I completely agree - they are very hard to get so children with them really really need the help set out in them. Also with this policy as you say there is a huge risk children in SRPs in mainstream schools would become totally underfunded.

I think the only thing we can do is sign and shared with everyone in our contacts. IPSEA also have a model letter you can send to your MP.

I would say that the hardest thing about my job as a teacher is the underfunding of SEND. I do my best but when you have such a range of ND children with very little extra support it is impossible. Inclusion was about putting children in mainstream who had a visual , hearing or physical impairment. With adjustments that are quite straightforward these children can and do thrive in mainstream. Inclusion is now about saving money. Put everyone in mainstream. Give them a piece of paper that legally entitles them to additional support but then don’t give the money to fund this. It’s a massive con. Parents, teachers and children have been lied to. Mainstream is the right place for many children with SEN but it really isn’t the right place for many. We need to stop the narrative that mainstream is best for everyone.

I taught a visually impaired child at A-level. Nice child & able; supportive parents. It was a HUGE amount of extra work. Even preparing tests and exams used to double the amount of time I'd usually spend. I ended up setting the class whatever paper was available in the large print version, whether it was the most suitable choice or not.

It doesn't do anyone any favours to pretend that inclusion is just about better planning or that it's time and cost free.

Sorry, meant to add that mainstream was absolutely the right place for that child, but it would have been more appropriate for school to subscribe to a specialist service to produce the documents (you can't just enlarge on the photocopier). I did find that RNIB would provide free large print textbooks online.

@Superhansrantowindsor I have forwarded the petition to every teacher I know. I think what is likely to happen if this plan goes ahead is that dc with SEN are left in ms with no funding at all.

I know a parent who looked at more than ten schools for their autistic child and there was not one special school in county (no state or privately run special school) which could accommodate a very bright autistic child who was having severe melt downs and out of class 50% of every day and that parent was desperate to put their dc in a specialist setting. There are good options for dc 2-3 years behind academically but very little for kids who are not, but can’t cope in ms.

The place to start is to create the specialist school placements and then move the children, not defund them where they are.

@Needlenardlenoo I completely agree. I met a teacher who had a completely non verbal autistic dc in her setting who got straight As at A level. With much support of course and what an achievement all round.

Apparently the government assumed that only 3000 kids would leave the private sector - and it’s been somewhere between 10000 and 13000. Which tips the whole exercise into ‘no money made’ territory.