SEND Support - Navigating Schools & the LA Together

08/10/2025

This is a first-of-its-kind voice petition with Jamie Oliver and the British Dyslexia Association, calling on the UK Government to listen to families affected by SEND

Jamie Oliver joins the British Dyslexia Association and fellow celebs to launch a groundbreaking voice petition calling to urgent SEND reform.

06/10/2025

October is Selective Mutism Awareness Month!!

What is Selective Mutism?

Selective Mutism (sometimes referred to as Situational Mutism) is a severe anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, despite being able to do so freely in others.

Selective Mutism is not a choice but a physical inability to speak. In certain social situations, they experience such intense anxiety around speaking that the freeze response is triggered. They want to speak but literally can’t get the words out.

Those with SM are not ‘just shy.’ They are struggling with something far more complex than just shyness.

Selective Mutism is a condition that is lesser known and often misunderstood and this can prevent children from getting the help that they need. It’s important that parents, teachers and professionals are able to recognise the signs of SM, so that they are able to receive the right support.

Please educate yourself and help break the silence surrounding Selective Mutism.

06/10/2025

If you’re making a parental request for an EHCP, the first step should be to submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) to your child’s setting. This will give you copies of relevant records, reports, and assessments so you can include strong evidence with your application.

Legally, if you make a parental request, the local authority is not obliged to contact your child’s setting for information - so don’t assume they will. Gathering the evidence yourself gives your request the best possible start.

03/10/2025

Let’s keep signing, sharing and letting this government know we won’t back down 🙌🏻

Our petition closes NEXT WEEK 👇

If you haven't added your name yet, please sign before our petition ends on 9 October.

🔗 Sign here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/711021

We know the Government is considering reforms that could strip away legal rights and restrict access to EHC plans. For families already battling for support, this would be devastating. If children and young people already can't get the support they need under a legally enforceable framework, how will this possibly be improved by removing legal rights?

👉 Share this petition with friends and family
👉 Share and comment to help more people see this post

Thank you for your support.

[Image description: Screenshot of Save Our Children's Rights petition titled 'Retain legal right to assessment and support in education for children with SEND'. The petition shows 128,584 signatures]

Special Needs Jungle | I.P.S.E.A | Learning Disability Today | SEND Rights Alliance | SENDNationalCrisis Information | SOS SEN

02/10/2025

This hits hard for many of us ❤️❤️

1032 likes, 50 comments. “ND kids carry so much behind the scenes - masking, sensory overload, social pressure, and emotional exhaustion 💙 Home should be their safe harbour, not another battlefield. Save this for the next time you need a reminder to stay close, calm, and connected.”

01/10/2025

“Fines punish parents, but they don’t cure fear”

So very true and so relatable to many parents of children with SEND.

When a child can’t get into school, it’s so often framed as refusal. But Emotionally-based school avoidance (EBSA) isn’t about refusing.

It’s about fear, overwhelm and a nervous system in crisis.

And yet parents are punished. Fines are sent. Threats are made.
As if anxiety can be cured with penalties.
As if punishing families creates safety for children.

The truth is this: EBSA is a desperate signal from a child’s body that something isn’t right.

It’s not a choice. It’s not bad parenting.
And no amount of punishment will make fear disappear.

What families need is support. Understanding. Adaptations.

Because you can’t fine a child out of anxiety but you can listen, believe and create the conditions they need to thrive.

💜 If you’re in this right now, you’re not failing. You’re facing a system that too often gets it wrong.

29/09/2025

The issue here is simply a severe lack of school places for SEND children, and they then have to be sent miles from home to receive the education they are legally entitled to. No parent wants to put their child in a taxi to drive hours to get to school and then home again but a lot of us simply do not have a choice.

Daily Express maybe a better headline would be ….
Council spend £1900 a week getting one SEND child to school and back, this is one reason we desperately need more SEND school places, mainstreams to be more inclusive AND a complete reform of the entire SEND system that is failing thousands of children each day!

Children are undertaking round trips of up to 368 miles 🔴🇬🇧

29/09/2025

It can feel exhausting when a school seems unwilling to act. Here’s a breakdown of what you can do when a school refuses to make reasonable adjustments for a child with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND):

1. Know Your Child’s Rights
• Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must make reasonable adjustments so that children with disabilities are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to their peers.
• Reasonable adjustments can include things like: adapting teaching methods, extra time, using assistive technology, changes to the environment, or flexible behaviour expectations.
• This duty applies whether or not your child has a diagnosis or an EHCP.

2. Ask in Writing
• Put your request in writing (email/letter) to the SENCO and headteacher.
• Be specific: explain your child’s difficulties, what adjustments are needed, and how the lack of adjustments is impacting them.
• Request a formal written response.

3. Use the School’s SEN Processes
• Request a meeting with the SENCO to review your child’s needs and what has already been tried.
• Ask to see your child’s SEN Support plan / Individual Education Plan (IEP) if one exists.
• Keep detailed notes of meetings and what is promised.

4. Escalate If Necessary
• Governors/Trustees: If the school still refuses, you can raise the issue with the governing body (or academy trust).
• Local Authority (LA): Contact the LA’s SEND team and explain that the school is refusing to fulfil its legal duty.

27/09/2025

Chaos? Mess? Or kids who are happy and regulated at home?
If your house looks like this, remember: it’s a sign your children are happy, regulated, and supported.

This is what education should be too - fun, engaging, and supportive.

Because when children feel safe and enjoy learning, schools suddenly discover what they like to call “less behavioural issues.” Funny that.

(Minus the dogs… unless your 9-year-old insists on bringing them along 🐾😂)

27/09/2025