As the head of a small primary school in rural Cumbria, Matthew Jessop understands only too well the pressures of trying to stretch budgets to provide for his pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
That is why the award-winning headteacher is uncertain the Government’s overhaul of SEND provision, due to be announced in a landmark white paper next month, will deliver the change he says is desperately – and crucially, the money – needed to solve a “perma-crisis” in education for children with additional needs.
The Government has promised to put significant funding behind the revised system, including £3bn for SEND places in mainstream schools and £200m to retrain all mainstream teachers so that they can also work as SEND educators.
Mr Jessop’s school, Crosthwaite Church of England Primary in the Lake District, has 110 pupils from nursery age upwards, 30 per cent of whom are on its SEND register.
Seven of its pupils have Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP), the legal documents that entitle children with more severe or complex needs to the support they need, with costs split between the school and the local authority at cost on average of £17,500 per person.
‘Another sticking plaster to cover a gaping wound’
Mr Jessop said: “I worry that this new white paper will come up with another sticking plaster to cover a gaping wound and actually fail to look at 15 years of systemic underfunding and lack of long-term planning. SEND provision is a huge issue for us.
“We actually commit 95 per cent of our budget to staffing to ensure we support our children with various needs. But for every child that comes into the school with an EHCP – and we say no to nobody – that’s another £6,000 out of the budget. It’s a commitment that puts a lot of pressure on funds everywhere else in the school. We have to fundraise very proactively to top up that staffing commitment.”
With so little to spare in the school’s resourcing, Mr Jessop is consequently concerned that the proposals due to be announced in Labour’s reforms will leave leaders of primary and secondary education with a radically overhauled SEND blueprint but neither the staff nor the funds to implement it.
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As revealed by The i Paper, SEND pupils are expected to be placed in one of four new tiers of provision based on their needs, with a renewed emphasis on teaching children within mainstream schools.
EHCPs are expected to be reserved only for those children whose needs cannot be met within the four tiers, and it is as yet unclear what will happen in the cases of children with existing plans.
Mr Jessop points out that EHCPs play a key role in ensuring pupils with complex needs are suitably cared for, and are also painfully difficult to obtain. One of his pupils has been waiting for four years for an EHCP assessment.
He said: “This is not a problem that can be fixed on the cheap. I think it’s dangerous to consider the removal or restriction of the EHCP system because it’s just so tough out there in terms of accessing services and help.
“We have a lot of families in the area that struggle in terms of income. But if we are funding a counsellor for three children because there’s nothing available on the NHS, then what is it like in more deprived urban areas? From speaking to other heads and friends there, it’s off the chart.”
‘My son was left needing treatment for trauma’
The importance of EHCPs as a means of securing educational support from a system where meaningful help can take years to access is not lost on parents like Sharon Pratt. Her adopted son Callum, now 19, was ultimately left needing treatment with a trauma specialist because of the patchy nature of support he received during his secondary schooling.
Ms Pratt, from Tadworth, Surrey, said it was only because Callum had an EHCP in place that she was able to appeal to a SEND tribunal to secure him a place at a specialist sixth form college where he has since thrived, qualifying as a carpenter.
Sharon said: “He’s gained confidence using public transport, tried clubbing, is learning to drive, plays cricket for the Surrey disability team, and most importantly, has his self-esteem and confidence back and now sees a future.
“While life will undoubtedly present challenges, and he will likely need ongoing support now at 19, the rights afforded by his EHCP have hopefully given him the foundation to reach his full potential.”
£6bn shortfall in SEND funding by 2029, study
It is the sort of sustained assistance which Mr Jessop feels needs to be at the root of any remoulding of the SEND system.
The headteacher, who has been a teacher for 23 years and head at Crosthwaite for 14 years, said there was a chronic need for long-term planning in education and expressed the hope that the delayed Schools White Paper, first due to have been published last autumn, will reflect careful thinking about the sustainability of SEND reforms.
But he said even the sum of £200m to train mainstream teachers, a move which has provoked concern from unions that it will remove staff from classrooms, will do little to close a yawning resourcing gap. According to one estimate, there will be a £6bn black hole in SEND funding and spending by 2029.
Mr Jessop said: “I think we’ve all got to recognize the situation with money in this country: there isn’t any. But £200m goes nowhere. You’ve got to invest more than that, and you’ve got to do it long term, and you’ve got to put long-term plans in place.
“I would accept changes, absolutely, if I thought they were for the better, if it saved money [and] if it met the needs of the children, because that’s what I’m here for.”
The headteacher added there was a particular concern about ensuring funding for teaching assistants (TA) within any reshaped SEND system, saying changes to budgeting rules were already jeopardising money for TA posts.
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According to one recent study, some three quarters of teaching assistants are considering leaving their roles, with 25 per cent actively looking for different jobs, citing low pay as a key source of discontent. Fewer than one in five said they felt they had all the resources they needed to support learners with SEND.
Mr Jessop said: “They’re the absolute lifeblood of schools. The work and the hours they do, and the relationships they have with these kids that need extra support, is absolutely invaluable. And they’re paid an absolute pittance.
“Losing them would actually make me consider leaving education.”
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