06 September 2023 , 15:30
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Schools are back, and apparently going to RAAC and ruin on the very first day of term. Apparently there is no extra funding to repair reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in crumbly schools (don’t they sound delicious – like a giant, failing concretey Aero bar). I’m just wondering where this is going to leave the SEND kids.
Because disabled kids needing adaptations are already staring blankly at the whitescreens – sorry, I mean the massive SEND funding gap, as identified by the Local Government Association. The Government has pledged an extra billion for SEND kids, bringing money allocated for kids with high additional needs to just over £10bn, but £1.6bn extra is needed for them so… (where’s my GCSE maths when I need it?) that’s quite a lot short.
And that doesn’t take account all the kids considered to have lower support needs. Those not in the meagre 4.3% of kids with Education, Health and Care Plans – the documents that assure they will get their needs met, whose parents get knocked back for years. What of their funding? All 1,183,384 of them who get some sort of help (but it’s piecemeal) – up five per cent from last year. 13% of kids in schools without an EHCP need SEND support – or rather, are recognised as needing SEND support – up 0.4% from last year. Because so many kids with needs are overlooked. You see how the figures look wonky? Registered and counted versus need? The sums and support do not add up.
No EHCP means no ringfenced support. And even with an EHCP, it’s not guaranteed. A friend of mine’s child has to wait an extra month before she can start this term, in order for staff at her specialist school to get training in her common health condition – this is a specialist school. What hope for the mainstream?
I can’t find the figures for the number of schools that are accessible. And we’re not talking physically accessible – we’re talking support across the board. The largest number of kids who have EHCPs are autistic. And others in need of SEND support need the greatest amount of support for speech, language and communication needs. Why is there no log of which schools meet a gold standard of accessibility? Grange Hill goes Spurs stadium.
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If schools are now having to check behind the school hall curtains and PE kit bins for bits of cash in their existing budgets to plug gaps in building repair spend, because money has only been allocated to fix a third of crumbling schools – literal, giant holey gaps – how on earth are they supposed to support Disabled kids who need extra people, space or resources to have equity of experience with non-disabled kids?
I’d say it’s a growing concern, but it’s been growing for years, and I’m honestly not sure how much bigger it can grow. 389,171 kids had EHCPs last year. Up almost ten per cent on the year before. (We’ve not forgotten the mental health crisis in schools – with somewhere between a quarter and half of kids suffering from a decline in mental health since the pandemic.)
The only silver lining is that with a fifth of kids recurrently missing school due to stress and mental health distress, perhaps less buildings are going to be needed. So a bit of DO NOT CROSS tape around the ruins will be all that will be needed. It’s only the futures of 11 per cent of our children (the diagnosed number – although teachers will tell you a fifth to a quarter of their classes have SEND) we’re failing. (Gaby Hinsliff wrote in depth about school refusers this week too – how many more voices need to raise this for the truth to be heard?) Seriously – how can the Government still not hear the whistles of the canaries in the coalmine – our own children – when it comes to the state of state education, especially for Disabled kids? And make no mistake, poor mental health IS a disability. More money is desperately needed.
Now. And just in case the Government isn’t sure it’s a vote winner – Rethink’s research shows that two-fifths of voters consider mental health to be a determinative issue when it comes to marking the spot with an X. And only a fifth think mental health support works. They’re right.