The publication of the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper in March 2022 was in my view, a pivotal moment in the development of a set of reforms that have the potential to change the way that children and young people’s needs are both identified and met within our school system. The Green Paper, alongside the Schools White Paper, set out bold proposals to deliver a generational change for a more inclusive system for all. It was heartening to see the ambition to change the experience for so many children and young people being set out so clearly in the publication of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan in March and Trust Strength Descriptions in April. The emerging definition of what constitutes a high quality and inclusive education certainly place inclusion at the centre of the reforms by being one of the key pillars. The descriptions of the overall culture and that a schools needs to have in place so that they can offer a truly high quality and inclusive education for all is a significant development in the move towards a fully inclusive school system;
‘Creates a culture in all its schools that is motivating and ambitious for all, including disadvantaged children and children with SEND, so that students can achieve their full potential.’
‘Operates fair access. Welcomes and effectively teaches disadvantaged children and children with SEND from their local areas.’
The following extracts from the forward in the ‘Improvement Plan’ written by The Secretaries of State for both Education and Health & Social Care set out both the ambition and case for what many of us in the education and health sectors believe to be essential change:
‘Children only get one childhood. They deserve to get the support they need to thrive and prepare for happy, healthy and productive adulthoods. For children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), or in alternative provision, this is especially vital.
It is time to deliver a more dignified experience for children and young people with SEND and to restore families’ confidence in the system.’
I don’t think that any of us can argue with the ambition as set out in the Improvement Plan to establish a new national SEND and alternative provision system with the mission to:
- fulfil children’s potential: children and young people with SEND (or attending alternative provision) enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes and are well prepared for adulthood and employment;
- build parents’ trust: parents and carers experience a fairer, easily navigable system (across education, health and care) that restores their confidence that their children will get the right support, in the right place, at the right time;
- provide financial sustainability: local leaders make the best use of record investment in the high needs budget to meet children’s and young people’s needs and improve outcomes, while placing local authorities on a stable financial footing.
It has been an absolute privilege to represent our network in the development of the proposals alongside others from the network and wider school system. It has been good to see how the views of so many of our members have been listened to through either their roles in various stakeholder groups or through their inputs at our meetings with DfE officials over the last two years. We truly welcome the engagement.
Whilst it feels that we are only at the equivalent of Everest’s base camp in terms of our ambition as trust leaders to be working within a fully integrated and aligned national continuum of education provision which can support the needs of so many of the country’s most vulnerable learners, it certainly does feel like an important step in achieving this ambition. The network looks forward to continuing to play its full part in supporting the implementation phase of the reforms over the coming years.
Mark Vickers MBE