Children and young people with SEND face additional barriers that can affect their mental health. Unidentified speech, language, and communication needs can significantly impact their ability to express feelings and to feel understood and connected to...
As we approach the end of 2020, and a new school term starting next month, it is a good time to reflect on the different schools the Boyes Turner Education Team have helped children and young people (C/YP) with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to...
The EHCP does not specify funding, it only specifies provision and it is not clear that the provision is dedicated solely to that pupil (local authority) We are often contacted by parents because their child or young person’s Education, Health and...
Children and young people may transition between several stages of education: early years provider to school infant school to junior school primary school to middle school primary school to secondary school middle school to secondary school secondary...
Parents often reach out for help when they want to appeal the type and name of school on their child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For many children, the local maintained special or mainstream school is simply not the right fit. The special...
With the academic year shortly starting back from September, albeit it is likely that this will look different as a result of Covid-19, this time of year also signals the start of a new year of appeal hearings for the SEND Tribunal. The SEND Tribunal...
We last wrote about the changes to the duty to make provision set out in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) on 4 May 2020. The changes were to be in place until 31 May 2020. This has now been extended to 30 June 2020 by a 2 nd Notice - The...
If you are a parent with a child or young person (YP) with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), then now is a good time to look ahead at the New Year and to plan for the key dates in the SEN calendar. Whilst timescales for the EHCP process are legally...
A child or young person can face the trauma of amputation in a myriad of circumstances, be it from the treatment of meningitis or cancer, or as a result of an accident or injury. However, whatever the cause of injury, the recovery and rehabilitation of a...
An interesting recent case, GK v North Somerset Council (2018) , was heard at the Upper Tribunal in relation to special educational provision out-of-term-time. Parents and educational professionals will know that children and young people (CYP) can take a...
An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury caused to the brain after birth. It can be caused by a fall, a road traffic accident, stroke or a tumour or meningitis. The initial focus after all brain injuries is medical help. Once this has stabilised, for...
I recently visited the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre in Surrey, a specialist centre offering assessments and services for children and adults with Specific Learning Difficulties, to provide training on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). Helen Arkell...
A reminder of parent and young person’s rights under Annual Reviews. What are the rights of appeal following Annual Review? Section 51 Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA) gives parents and young persons the right to appeal of the Local...
The key issue in an appeal to Upper Tribunal in the case of East Sussex County Council V JC [2018} UKUT 81 (AAC) was whether a powered wheelchair is a special educational provision . In this case a young person was reliant on a...
It is well known that any education provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) “must be so specific and clear as to leave no room for doubt as to what has been decided ” (L v Clarke and Somerset CC 1998) The SEND Code...
Transferring children and young people from Statements of SEN to Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) has been phased from the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms in September 2014 to the end of March 2018. By 1...
‘Provision in Section F of an EHCP must be so specific and clear as to leave no room for doubt as to what has been decided’. This is well known SEN case law (L v Clarke and Somerset CC (1998)) that should be ingrained in the training of all...
SEND law is changing is Wales. The changes were proposed back in April 2016. The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill was eventually passed by the National Assembly for Wales on 12 December 2017 and became an Act on 24 January 2018...
If your child has special educational needs (SEN), then 15 February has significant meaning – this is the date by when the local authority (LA) must issue a new Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or Statement of SEN for children who are moving on...
The Department for Education (DfE) issued new post-16 transport guidance on 26 October for Local Authorities (LA). The guidance is, we suspect, as a response to problems that parents have voiced in recent months about problems with school/college transport...
It is well established that home to school transport cannot be considered a special educational need or special educational provision and cannot, therefore, be included in an EHCP. The recent case of Staffordshire County Council v JM [2016] UKUT 0246 (AAC)...
We had an interesting enquiry recently about the local authority’s (LA) duty to seek advice over the summer holidays when it is drafting an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) . The enquiry referred to the ‘4-week rule’. What is...
LB of Hillingdon v SS and Others (SEN): [2017] UKUK 250 (AAC) The Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA) introduced a system by which the Secretary of State can approve independent special and special post-16 placements to enable them to be requested to be...
When a child acquires a brain injury, they can present with a wide range of alterations in physical function, cognition, communication, social, emotion and behaviour regulation. The nature and severity of injury may also result in ongoing medical problems...
Requesting an Education, Health and Care Needs assessment Young people who have Special Educational Needs (SEN) but do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) have the right to request an assessment of their SEN at any point before their 25th...
The Upper Tribunal (UT) found that the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) had made an error in dismissing a young person’s appeal against the content of an EHCP without ordering amendments to make the Plan workable. The appeal concerned a young person,...
The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea v GG (SEN) [2017] UKUT 141 (AAC) The case concerns an appeal by ‘G’ against the local authority’s (LA) decision to refuse to carry out an EHC needs assessment under s36 (3) Children and...
It is international Down syndrome awareness day on 21 March 2017. To help raise awareness, we are writing a series of articles about Down syndrome and education. Today we are discussing secondary and further education for children and young adults with Down...
Children with Down syndrome were not always entitled to an education. We are looking back over the history of Down syndrome and their access to education. We’ve come a long way in understanding the needs of children with Down syndrome. Below is a...
Once a young adult turns 18 they are no longer legally required to participate in education. However, the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) can now provide support to young adults until they are 25 years old provided their learning outcomes have...
The findings of a GL Assessment report out on 24 February 2017, ‘Hooked on labels not on needs’. The survey polled 810 teachers from 19 January to 1 February 2017. In summary, the findings are: 57% of teachers in the survey think...
Personal budgets and direct payments are a way that individuals can manage their own care and support. There is an increasing drive by the government in recent years to promote it. It has been around in social care for a while but is relatively new in the...
Pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) support, including those children with Education, Heath and Care Plans (EHCP), have the highest exclusion rate in the UK. The Department for Education found that children with SEN are over 7 times...
The appeal of S-G v Denbighshire County Council and another has, for the first time, considered how special educational needs tribunals should handle a case where parents do not agree with one another about school placement. This judgement...
We’ve been asked to clarify how special educational needs funding (SEN funding) is handled in schools. We are told that some local authorities (LAs) are ‘deducting’ the first £10,000 and others are ‘deducting’ the...
The Children and Families Act 2014 created a new system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Two of the many changes made were: Extending SEND support to the age of 25; Creating the...
Over the past few weeks we have been contacted by a number of parents of children with high-functioning autism (HFA). It seems increasingly common for local authorities to refuse to make an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments of young people...
We get enquiries about personal budgets time and time again. Whilst the right for parents and young people (YP) to request a personal budget has been in force now for over a year, it is apparent that very few people who want one have actually managed to...
There is still quite a lot of confusion about how therapeutic provision should be provided to a child or young person who has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) . Yesterday, 6 January 2016, we received a letter from a local authority which...
The case of R (C) v Westminster City Council (2015) has just been reported. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate the case on free databases and, as yet, have not received the full citation. The case concerns a judicial review of a...
The DfE has released an updated report on the destinations of pupils leaving Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. The data can be found here . These figures relate to the academic year 2013/2014. As such, they are an assessment of the outcomes for children...
September is childhood cancer awareness month. As one Twitter entry put it, “We often do recover and grow up, but treatment has short and long term side effects. We need better options” ( @vickyyyf ) Of course, parents and children are likely...
The Upper Tribunal has provided guidance on how the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal should approach expert evidence when there is conflicting advice. The guidance for how expert evidence should be considered by the Special...
The Department for Education (DfE) has released two substantive reports assessing the impact of the special educational needs and disability reforms. The special educational needs and disability reforms took effect in September 2014. Before this, in...
In this final article in our series about the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal we explain what can be done if you are unhappy about a decision taken by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SEND or...
Once you have sent your appeal form to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, a timetable for your appeal will be issued. These are called ‘Case Management Directions’. The following directions are those typically...
In this first of three articles about the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal , we look at what the Tribunal is, what it can deal with and relevant time limits. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal ( SEND or SENDIST )...
The Children and Families Act 2014 came into force in September 2014. It completely changed how children with special educational needs (SEN) are now supported. Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) are available for children with the...
I was fortunate to be shown around a very special school last week, Ingfield Manor School, and its school for parents, The Dame Vera Lynn Trust School for Parents, in Billingshurst, West Sussex. Ingfield Manor is a non-maintained special school run by the...
We wrote recently about Devon County Council making use of a “ My Plan” as a form of support for children with special educational needs (SEN). In summary, we expressed a view that the “M y Plan” could be a...
