¶ SEND in Mainstream Schools
Welcome to the Send Parenting Podcast . I'm your neurodiverse host , dr Olivia Kessel , and , more importantly , i'm mother to my wonderfully neurodivergent daughter , alexandra , who really inspired this podcast .
As a veteran in navigating the world of neurodiversity in a UK education system , i've uncovered a wealth of misinformation , alongside many answers and solutions that were never taught to me in medical school or in any of the parenting handbooks . Each week on this podcast , i will be bringing the experts to your ears to empower you on your parenting crusade .
In this episode , we are welcoming back Tamsen Hendry , an amazing Send Consultant , to talk about what you can do as a parent if your child isn't getting the right support in school . We will discuss the importance of the local authority graduated response and how this can help lay the foundation , if you need to , on your journey for your EHCP application .
You will be able to download key points discussed today by visiting wwwsenparentingcom and accessing this episode . If you signed up already to the mailing list , you'll be sent an email with the information as a free resource .
Welcome to the Send Parenting Podcast , tims , and it's so great to have you back on the show to now really get into the depths of your knowledge about Send Provision in mainstream schools . It's so important for parents to understand what support is available for them And it's not .
It's about as clear as mud when you're sitting outside of that understanding of it . So , but when you have that knowledge , it can really empower you as a parent to know what you can get out of your school and how to actually access it .
So I appreciate you coming on today to explain what is a quite complicated topic and not a lot of people know about it , because I've really searched high and low for people who could explain this And you are really one of the first people that has been able to explain it to me in a way that I could understand .
So no pressure , but and we'll have some PDFs for people to look at afterwards too if they have questions . But first of all , my understanding is that , in terms of support , it all falls under your local offer and that is dependent on your local authority .
Perhaps it's best if you explained the local offer and the local authority , okay , So every local author , under the code of practice , which is a statutory document , every local authority has to produce a local offer , and so , whether you're from Newcastle , or you're from Surrey or from London , if you type in your the name of your borough , followed by send local
offer , it will bring up a wealth of knowledge , and that knowledge is normally divided into three sections parents and carers , young people and practitioners .
So it's for all of us to use and all of us to access , and on there it tells you what services are available in your area if you're a parent , and what send schools are available , and touches on the flowchart of what happens from the point that you recognize that your child has a need .
Okay , so this is for parents that maybe are undiagnosed or diagnosed . It's for both , everybody . Yeah , for both .
So it's really clear So you can tap onto where you are in your journey . You might you know , and the questions are normally that simple . I think my child is falling behind the way through to . my child has an EACP and we've got an annual review , All right . So it really is covers everything .
you need to familiarize yourself with the local offer to know what's in your area . It will answer most of your questions .
That's fascinating , and that it's different in different areas too . So that's also interesting , but probably a topic for another discussion . And then you've told me before that the local offer is then broken down into three components , starting with the send support arrangement plans . Well , so what ? I ?
would say to parents is the most important section you should really be looking at is the section for practitioners . Okay , because that will be the part that helps you understand how your child is supported in school .
So if you want to look at what services are available in your area you're going to go on to an overview of the flow chart of the system go into parents and carers If you want to understand what's happening within the schools . Research what's available for practitioners Interesting .
That's a good tip , because you're then looking from the inside rather than being on the outside , and what type of things would you see when you're looking at one ? So for practitioners , the documentation that you use to assess children's development with .
That's why it's so important , because so the first document within that is the send support arrangement I want to talk about .
Okay , so often parents know a little bit or they may have a few pieces of paper from that , so it will look different in every borough , but fundamentally it's a document that contains all the information about your child and all the reviews that take place . It's putting it all in one place .
So if you then are early in your journey and you go and see a speech and language therapist or a community pediatrician or an occupational therapist , you can take that document with you and there's everything in there without the emotion that gives them a picture of your child in an holistic way .
So some parents might have their school , might have said , oh , we've done a one page profile for your child .
That's quite common that parents may have a one page profile and some schools do it for all children And in there it's what's important to them , how they learn what people like about them , and it's kind of an overview so that if you have a supply teacher come in or they're going into a different classroom , someone's got a quick overview about that child .
It's like a snapshot Yeah .
So if the activity is broken down , if they need visuals , whatever it might be , so it's a real snapshot . So parents might have that . And some parents might have an individual support plan .
So the school might have called them in and said , okay , we're going to do some extra reading , we're going to do some mass catch up and they tend to record it as maybe three or four goals on an individual support plan or an ISP and then parents might get that termly and they'll review children's progress .
So those are two pieces that are quite common that parents might have come across . They're actually a small part of a very large document . Okay , and that large document is what parents . It's really helpful if parents know about that document because there's input parents can have on there .
There's a family page where families complete it and say these are my aspirations for my child , these are my concerns , these are my worries , this is what we find works for them .
So if you've got those two pieces , if you research a local offer under a practitioner's and you came across a sense of poor arrangements , you might look at that large document , which is about 30 pages , and say , oh well , i've got that And I've seen that , but I haven't seen the rest of it .
That's down to parents to be informed and go in and say , actually , i recognize these . Have we got the rest of it ? And the rest of it is really important because it's that that's submitted when you apply for the HCP if that's a decision that's made later on .
So it's important that it is updated all the time And , seeing there's a whole document , in my view there's no good having pieces of it . We need that overview .
And is it more common that you don't get the whole thing ? It's just those two documents that people are familiar with , unless the parent comes in and says , hey , we need to have the whole picture here .
So that's really super interesting in terms of being Unless we get to the point where the school or the parents saying , actually we'd like to request a statutory assessment for an HCP , and then it's all got . You know , everything's everyone's rushing to get this huge document done , and actually it didn't need to be a rush , it's just done from the beginning .
It is a really detailed document and takes the schools lots of time And again schools are under resourced . So for me , i always do it with the parent . We do it together because it's too much what one Senko can do to do on their own . But actually the parent is much more informed than the Senko anyway , because it's their child .
So it's a document that I would really encourage parents to try and work with the school in doing , rather than saying actually you need to complete this .
So is it something a parents can like , complete themselves , and then come and have that discussion with a Senko and take that burden of work off them and then sit down with a Senko and say , look , i filled this out to the best of my ability and can you now input into it ? That could be a way to kind of navigate .
That's how I would always recommend for a parent to do it , because , and also it's a starting of a conversation of the school saying , well , we're not seeing that at all And understanding what the child needs .
So if a child is reading at home and sharing at home and doing all these things at home , listening and attention is good , but they're not doing it at school , that's a conversation to be had . It's in place at home . That isn't at school . It's quiet , there's one to one . You know it's really an EHCP and the centerport arrangement .
The whole purpose of it is to say what does this child need in place to be able to learn ? So by the parents , taking the weight of that from a Senko is a dream come true , really .
But , bearing in mind going back to another podcast that we did , we have to listen to what the schools say , because children behave differently in different places And actually having that communication between yourself and the Senko about how that might be different is gonna benefit both of you , because then you get a less one-dimensional view of a child .
Absolutely , absolutely . So you get this document together and you may or may not want to go down the route for an EHCP . Can you explain a little bit about what advice you would give parents when they were deciding to take that next step , maybe to go get the EHCP , and what that means ?
Okay so within that if we go back a small step . So within that graduate , within the local offer , under practitioners , you've got the centerport arrangements . There's another document called the graduated response and it's exactly as it's described . It's a graduated response to recognizing the need of a child and the severity of that need .
Okay , so if anybody has seen an EHCP or not , they're divided into four sections cognition and learning , communication , interaction , social , emotional , mental health and physical and sensory . So the centerport arrangements are also divided into those four sections , as is the document called the graduated response .
So we're looking at those four sections of children's development . The graduated response itself is an information , a document full of information , and it's not accessible to parents through the local offer . You have to go in through the practitioner section and it's divided into two parts .
One is profile of need And one , the second section , is plan to review what we do about this child's profile of need . So the profile of need . Both sections are divided into four categories universal , so the universal child .
Then you've got setting support , which means the school needs to do bit more than they perhaps would for the universal child , but not it doesn't require extra funding . The third section is specially support , which means a child would need to be referred to speech and language , occupational therapy , physio , whatever it might be behavioural support .
And the final category is statutory assessment , which means child has got to the point where we need to move forward . So it's this graduated response , the profile of need that you're reading and it'll say if your child presents in this way , this is the category they fall into .
So by working your way through that graduated response and highlighting where you think your child falls , it gives you the answer .
It's kind of like a roadmap to that answer .
Absolute roadmap and the second part of that , once you've got an idea , so you might say okay , under communication interaction , my child's falling into specialist support . But in the area of social , emotional , mental health , there it's setting support , school support .
The second part of the document gives a really clear guidance about what you can do , what schools can do , for those children that are falling into the different categories . So , as a parent , you're seeing .
So this is where schools and parents often differ , because a parent might say I think they're at this level and the school will say well , actually we think they're at a lesser level . When they're at school , they're behaving in this way . That's why it's really important to listen to one another and kindly come to a middle ground .
But rather than going into , if you get to know the graduated response , which very few parents know about , when you go into the meeting , you're going informed . You're not sitting there saying what are you going to do for my child .
You're going in and saying this is what I'd like us to talk about doing for my child , and I found it on the graduate response from my local authority . I know it's available to you and this is what I'd like to happen .
It totally empowers and activates you as a parent to be able to like , take , take , take control and to help a system which is overburdened and overworked . And it's in your interest because it's your child and you want to help that your child more than anyone on the world .
Really , you know that is your raison d'etre And you know to be able to it just makes so much sense that I had no idea about that . You can look at those documents , look at your roadmap and then go really have a productive conversation where it's not just do this for me , why aren't you doing it ? Which is what I did . Actually .
I was like help me with my EHCP . I didn't even know what it was , you know . So it changes the conversation , it changes your empowerment . It's amazing .
¶ Graduated Response and EHCP Navigation
And also about being realistic . So you might go in and again thinking about the primary . What's your primary focus ? So there's no good going in and saying I want you to do 10 assessments on my child and I want 14 specialists to come in . It's a gradual response , so it's one thing at a time . Actually , i'd like this half term .
I'd like us to focus on physical and sensory , so I'd like my child to have movement breaks . I understand there's this training program that staff could access . Could that be part of one of your insert days ? Or you know , i've got a private occupational therapist that I've engaged .
Would they be able to come in and do a session in school to model what will help my child ? So it's about it's easy to run before you can walk and say , oh my goodness , there's all these amazing things available on the local authority . That's not gonna cost anybody any money . Can we do them ? It's about saying there's still staffing problems . There's still .
Your child is one of 30 . What can we do ? What's possible , what can ? is it possible that my child could be taken out every day ? or some catch up maths programs within a small group of other children that might be in the same position ? So it's about being realistic , but the most really really important thing to do is that that is reviewed half-termly .
St .
Cozer Stretch , they don't have .
The time is down to you to drive that and be quite forceful in the fact that you do want regular meetings , or at least the review to be sent home to you half-termly , because you're building a picture And you're also seeing what's working and what doesn't work , cause I like that idea of okay , we're gonna change one thing , firstly because of the burden and the
resources , but also because you wanna make sure that what you're doing is actually having a positive impact , and if you do too many things at once , it's very hard to see what's actually having the impact . So , taking that , that graded response actually , then you know what's , you know what you should keep , what you shouldn't keep and what's working .
Yeah , And being kind to the Sengkos you know there's so many . The role of a Sengko is often taken on in addition to their role as a teacher And actually new to role . Sengko training is the biggest uptake of training in most boroughs because it's too much . It's just too much .
So my advice to any Sengko is use your parents as your most valuable resource in helping you write these documents , but also to say to parents be grateful , be thankful , speak to them in the way you would anyone else , because actually the kinder you are , the more willing people are to work with you .
I think we tend to like the poor I was talking about in the previous podcast , the poor lady in the supermarket that I took everything out on . you know we all tend to take things out on Sengko , so that relationship is really something that needs to be looked after .
And sometimes it's hard because parents have been through the mill , they've got the bruises , they've got the scars And , like in your example , when you lost it in the supermarket you know , some of us are a pressure cooker that's about to explode and it can come out at the totally wrong .
the person who you need to help you the most gets that explosion from you , you know , So find someone else to explode with Yeah it's true , and I was having a conversation with the headmaster at my son's school actually , and I said I know you think I'm .
I said I know you think I'm overprotective , i know that , but I've had boxing gloves on since he was two . It's really hard to take them off , even though I trust you , even though I think you're doing a great job . It's just habit And it's really hard to put those boxing gloves down and say let's do this together rather than fighting .
You know , i do think send parents . We often are stuck in that fighting mode And we've had to .
But equally it doesn't always serve as well . Yeah , there's a time and a place , and then there's a time to collaborate because it's in the best interest of your child . So actually you're fighting smart , you know , instead of burning your bridges .
And also by using and engaging with documents like the graduated response . You're speaking a universal language that everybody understands and it's less draining because there isn't the . You're not speaking from your heart and soul about your child . You're talking about a graduated response to a problem that's occurring for your child in school .
So it's the whole thing is less emotionally draining .
Yeah , it's more clinical is the way I would look at it . It's more prescribed . So you've gone along this roadmap , you've done your graduated response and you're starting to realize that actually your child needs more specialist support . And it's pointing you towards the EHCP , or educational healthcare plan , which is a big thing in and of itself .
What would you advise parents if that's where they're getting to ?
So if you , if you've gone to a graduate response and you feel like so , when you're requesting an EHCP , you're not actually requesting an EHCP , you're requesting a statutory assessment . And a statutory assessment is when you've gone to the local . You've gone to the local authority and said , okay , my child's falling behind in this way .
These are the things , these , this is their profile of need , based on the graduate response . This is what's been done over at least three terms . I would say you have to have evidence for at least three terms of intervention to show that you've engaged in a graduated response . We now would like a statutory request .
We're requesting a statutory assessment , which means an educational Psychologist would come into the school to observe your child and see what their advice is and what supports needed . So there's two phases to it . The first time you go to panel and they'll say , yes , we'll carry out a statutory assessment or no , we won't .
And the second time you go to panel They're saying what , we've carried out the statutory assessment and we are either going to issue a plan or we're not . My advice to any parent is , in between requesting the statutory assessment and , if that's agreed , requesting then in the HCP plan , be prepared .
The answer Maybe no , and to prepare yourself for that , you need to gather new evidence in between those phases , because if they say no can request a way forward meeting and say I've got new evidence .
So , whether that's , you've gone and got an occupational therapy report or you've gone the school of causing a specialist behavior teacher , whatever it might be , you need to be gathering some new evidence so that , if the answer is no , i always say you know , manage your expectations , imagine it's gonna be a no and prepare as such .
So you need some new evidence in case they're gonna say no and it sounds like the likelihood is that they will say no and it's Arming yourself for that kind of potential outcome so that , and it's benefiting your child as well .
Right , you're trying to get further evidence to see what is needed for your child to access education , which , at the end of the day , is really what we're all trying to do here .
And the truth is it all goes back many years ago to the Mary Walnut report , who basically said That's what our system is built on . That said , okay , we should close all our special needs schools down . We should take all those trained teachers from those special needs schools , integrate our children to mainstream schools and bring those specialist teams with them .
However , she's revised her report and said we had no idea there'd be this many children with special needs and actually in In this in a school , if every child that deserves any HCP got one , the whole system would break . So they're not easily given . It's for children that really do require above and beyond at school .
Yeah , and what's difficult for schools is , even if you've got a child that has any HCP with 30 hours as their is their number of Their support level , the school have to fund the first percentage of that time . So it costs schools money for children to have any HCP .
I hear lots of parents in different communities saying you know they've got all this money to support my child And yet they're not using it to support my child . Actually it costs the money .
So again you need to look at that and look at what an educational psychologist is saying and saying is this still the right place for my child Or would they be better moving into a specialist provision ?
And that's and that's , you know , a really interesting journey as well , from a parent's perspective and a school's perspective .
In that , and also to the report You just mentioned , in that we do need specialist schools because you know they're , they're , there is a need for them and there is a need for children to access them so that they can access education , and you can't put everyone all together , kumbaya , it doesn't work for all children .
Everybody you know talks about inclusion and integration . They are two really different things . For me , integration is okay . We've got all these children with these really significant profile of needs . I'm going to slot them into an education system that and try and adapt it as best we can .
Or you have really inclusive practice which is creating an environment that works for those children based on their needs . For me , that's inclusion . Some people would see that as segregation . I don't think that .
I think it's that personal view . They get segregated within that group mentality as well because they can't access the education in this large group of people . So they're already by definition segregated because they're just sitting there going uh . I don't get what's going on here , you know .
So it's uh and you've got any class . I would say to any parent , any parent that's looking at schools , you've got 30 children in a class . You might have three of those children with English and additional language . You may have three children that've got behavioral difficulties .
You may have three children that have got a significant profile of need but nobody has done anything about that , nobody recognizes it , and so those they've got no support in place and within that is your child .
So teachers have got a really really challenging job , and whereas in a specialist provision the numbers are so much smaller , which makes those profiles of need really manageable , yeah , no , i completely hear you and agree , and I think one of the things that I'm very passionate about and and want to do going forward is we need more specialist schools .
And how do we build more schools like that for kids ? because that's the saddest thing is when you have come to that realization as a parent and then you can't find a school that will take your child because they're just they're oversubscribed . So I think that model needs to change a bit . You know you have really clearly .
I wish I could have talked to you when I started my journey . You know , but I think that you're going to be so helpful to people because you just laid it out . A very complicated subject you made really simple and you've also got some notes that I'm going to include on the website and send out to people which give what send .
Advice and support is out there for people to access , so we will have that on on the website , because it is a confusing topic . I think you've done a really good job of of clarifying it , but there's always going to be more questions , so finding the right resources
¶ Free Resources for SEND Parenting
. So thank you very much , tamsen . I really appreciate it and we'll look forward to having you on the show again , i'm sure . Bye . Thank you , send parenting tribe for listening . Please visit wwwsendparentingcom to access this episode and download two amazing free resources .
The first resource is the value of understanding the local offer and the graduated response so kind of what we've been discussing in the podcast today . And then also another document which will give you where to access send advice and support . That was also discussed today . Wishing you and your family a good week ahead .