Improving provision for pupils outside mainstream education ought to be a top priority The doubling in the rate of children suspended from school in England since before the pandemic provides alarming evidence of worsening problems with behaviour and lack of in-school support. Persistent disruption was the reason most often cited in figures covering last spring, followed by physical assault against another pupil. The steep rise in suspensions of four- and five-year-olds is a particularly alarming trend, with 10,256 primary-age children suspended for assaulting an adult. Being out of schoo ..read more

Charity that uses football to help pupils build relationships found to improve happiness in Greater Manchester project Intensive mentoring for troubled schoolchildren using football kickabouts can significantly enhance wellbeing, increasing happiness equivalent to an unemployed adult getting a job, a study has found. A project involving more than 2,000 pupils in dozens of secondary schools in Greater Manchester showed that instead of wellbeing declining among pupils at risk of exclusion who had behavioural issues and special educational needs, their happiness scores increased ..read more

As calls grow for Labour to reinstate the centres for early years support, we hear from some of those who saw its benefits Baby massage classes, breastfeeding support, early intervention for children with special needs and advice on hair clips for nervous dads were just some of the multiple benefits of Sure Start, according to parents who used the service. “My Sure Start centre had wings and a halo,” is how one grateful parent puts it. “I would have been lost to postnatal depression if it wasn’t for our local centre,” says another. “Sure Start steadied me, held me, kept me from being lonely ..read more

Behind the erasure of disabled children lies the frightening belief that they don’t belong in ‘perfect’ pictures – or public spaces There is a difference between being shocked and being surprised. I thought of that as I read the news that disabled children had been “erased” from their class photo in a primary school in Aberdeenshire. A photographer is said to have taken separate pictures: one with the children with “additional needs” and one without. Parents were then given both versions to choose from. Reportedly, a set of twins was split up. The child who uses a wheelchair was excluded from ..read more

Long waiting lists and insufficient resources part of system that is ‘failing’ children, according to NEU members in England and Wales One in three teachers say they have no behaviour support team for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), while one in four have no educational psychologist or speech and language therapist to help them, according to a union survey. The online poll, which attracted responses from 8,000 members of the National Education Union (NEU), indicated that seven in eight teachers feel resources are insufficient to meet growing demand, with three-qu ..read more

Campaigner Marsha Martin says ‘there is a lot of stigma within black community’ that prevents issues from being discussed Cultural barriers are preventing black children who are autistic or have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from accessing the help they need, the founder of a UK campaign for better support has said. Hundreds of children with special educational needs (Send) routinely wait for more than a year to get help as local authorities across England struggle to meet unprecedented need in a dire financial climate ..read more

Actor says onus should not be on parents to prove their children can take part in normal activities Parents of children with special needs are being put under an “unbearable” strain to enable their kids to be able to do “normal things”, the actor Sally Phillips has said. Phillips, known for creating and starring in the sketch show Smack The Pony, made the comments after her son, who has Down’s syndrome, was denied access to a trampoline park ..read more

Robert Halfon quits as skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister as James Heappey confirms decision to step down In interviews this morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, admitted that special educational needs provision was in crisis, Ben Quinn reports. Universities in England could be told to terminate their arrangements with foreign countries if freedom of speech and academic freedom is undermined, the government’s free speech tsar has said. As PA Media reports, Prof Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students (OfS), said ..read more

Many local authorities are increasingly rejecting requests to assess children who need help in schools, new data reveals Councils are increasingly ­rejecting requests to assess children for ­special needs such as autism amid the financial crisis in the education system, according to figures seen by the Observer. Long-term underfunding combined with rising demand ­aggravated by the pandemic has left many councils facing significant ­deficits on their schools budgets. Freedom of information data sourced by the website Special Needs Jungle shows that councils in England have responded by increasi ..read more

Promised provision, particularly for autistic children, was announced a year ago but few schools will open on time Plans to deliver thousands of new special school places by 2026 are falling seriously behind, with experts branding the building programme “a mess”, the Observer can reveal. The news calls into question the only announcement on schools the chancellor made in last week’s budget – a commitment of £105m towards 15 additional special schools ..read more