In this September 2026 news update I will share with you some of the important announcements and documents that have been published over the last few months in preparation for the academic year ahead. I hope that you have all had a restful summer break and are ready to take on the challenges of the next academic year. Changes at the DfE During the summer a new Secretary of State

Consultation Document Summary   General Information This will be a decade long reform programme and new legislation is not expected to come into effect until September 2029. Until then the current system – with its existing duties, rights, and funding routes – will remain in place All children and young people who have a special school place in September 2029 will be able to stay in special school until the

Dear Colleagues I hope you are all well and have had a good start to 2026. Hopefully the School’s White Paper containing the SEND Reforms will be published very soon. I will send a separate summary once I have read and digested its contents. In the meantime there have been a number of reports and articles, all of which have the same conclusion, the SEND system is in crisis and

Lorraines summary of all thats new in the world of UK SEND

I hope you are all well and enjoying the early sunshine – let’s hope it lasts. In this update I will bring you all of the SEND news from the last few months. Government Ministers have mentioned SEND on numerous occasions but very little action has taken place so we are still not clear about their direction of travel for SEND students going forward. Support for children and young people

Dear Colleagues  I have put together an End of Term Update containing information and reports I think you need to be aware of. However, as I am writing this during the summer break and the government are in recess, nothing new will be announced before September.  All change at the Department for Education Following the General Election, a new Labour government is in place with a new group of Ministers

Dear Colleagues I hope that you all had a restful and relaxing summer break and the first two weeks of the new academic years have gone well. There have been a number of new documents and updated guidance issued in the last three months. In this update I have included educational news from this period that I think is important for you to know about. On 31st August following a

Dear Colleagues I hope that you have all had a restful and relaxing holiday and are ready to face the opportunities and challenges that the summer term will bring. In this update I have included all the educational news from the last half term. Transformational reform begins for children and young people with SEND – 2nd March – Press Release The government have finally published their SENDAP Improvement Plan following

On 3rd March the government finally produced their response to the SENDAP Green Paper that was published in March 2022. The response is in the form of an Improvement Plan that outlines how the government is going to update the current SEND system. I have produced an easy to read summary, reducing the 100+ pages into a short and concise summary of the key points that schools need to be aware

Can you believe we are half-way through the academic year. It sems to be going faster than ever. We are still awaiting the government’s response to the SEND Green Paper published in March 2022. As soon as it is published, I will get the headlines out to you. In this update I have included all the relevant information and documentation that was released during the last term and a half.

Dear Colleagues I hope that you have all had a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday and are ready for the academic year ahead. I would like to think that after the last two and a half years of turmoil due to a Global Pandemic we can look forward positively to the next year. However, with the current financial crisis and excessive rises in fuel and food costs many of our

The SEND Green Paper was finally published on 30th March 2022. It is a consultation document that I encourage all of you to respond to. The consultation closes on 1st July 2022. The SEND review sets out government’s proposals for a system that offers children and young people the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support, in the right place, and at the right time, so they can

I know that the last half term has been very challenging – some say the worst so far! Some of you have already broken up for half-term and are enjoying your holiday and some of you will be counting down the days until the end of this week. Please enjoy your break and take some time for yourselves. I have put together this update of all the news stories and

My summary of all that’s new in the world of SEND

I do hope that you have all had a relaxing and restful holiday and that you are ready to face the term ahead. Let’s hope that we can get back to some kind of normality this term. During the holidays a number of documents were issued by DfE, not many about SEND specifically, but I have highlighted the key ones I think will be of most interest. National strategy for

Well done for making it through the toughest year that I have known in my 42 years of working within the education sector. The challenges and difficulties have been unprecedented and even as I write this, with less than a week to go until the end of term for many of you, we are still seeing bubbles collapsing and more and more staff and students having to self-isolate. The DfE

Department for Education 2021 Reception baseline assessment: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA) – 6th May This statutory guidance contains information for assessing and reporting the reception baseline assessment in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. All the assessment resources should have been delivered to schools at the beginning of June. Schools and colleges to benefit from boost in expert mental health support – Press Release – 10th May Gavin Williamson

Since school fully opened on March 8th we have seen a number of new reports published about pupils with SEND. In this blog I share with you five of these reports and their findings and recommendations. It is hoped that the Department for Education (DfE) take into account some of the findings in these reports as part of the SEND Review which is currently taking place. Identifying pupils with SEND

Dear Colleagues I hope you are all well and have enjoyed a pleasant long weekend. BBC Bitesize The BBC has said that it will continue to provide learning support for teachers and pupils into the summer months. A three-hour Bitesize Learning Zone will be launched on CBBC and BBC iPlayer on school days, including new episodes of Bitesize Daily. This means that the Bitesize Learning Zone will continue to be