Related articles in Fair4All Education

April Update – Fair4All Education

The Fair4All Education project has been very busy over the last few months, looking into services for SEND children and young people in Bucks with the aim of campaigning for better SEND services.

We will be examining the joint inspection services in Buckinghamshire and the Government Green Paper on SEND.

The areas in particular that we have been looking at are varied and include the following:

A School Visit Checklist.  Finding the right school for a child can be very difficult, especially if they have special educational needs. To assist with this, our team has put together a checklist for parents/carers to take to schools when they visit. This checklist is intended to help find the key information to know about each school, prompt what questions to ask, and aid in comparing different schools ensuring the right decision for a child is made. It has been written by experienced parents who have been through this process with professionals from the Fair4All Education team.

EHCP Refusal & Agreement Legal Timeframes Flowcharts: These flowcharts set out the legal time limits which local authorities must follow when an EHCP is requested and/or refused. They also show each stage of the process and whose responsibility it is for the next stage to proceed. Again, they have been written by experienced parents who have been through this process from members of the Fair4All Education team.

School Contacts Spreadsheet: We now have a complete list of over 280 schools in the Buckinghamshire area, with their contact details.

Bucks SENDIAS: The Fair4All Education team are looking at ways we could work together with this organisation, studying transitions from one school to another. More details as we have them.

Restraint in Schools: We are examining the use of ‘reasonable force’ in schools and the guidance about the use of physical restraint in schools for governing bodies, headteachers and school staff. The team will gather reaction from members of the public on these issues with a poll. More details as we have them.


Summary

We are exploring more areas around the challenges in education and researching the facts, so that we can provide accurate information for sharing on our various platforms. Younger members have joined the team and will be assisting us with our writing and designing.