Education News

Government releases data in respect of education, health and care plans.

The total number of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans has continued to increase. The number of children and young people with EHC plans increased to 576,000, as at census day in January 2024, up by 11.4% from 2023. The number of EHC plans has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.

The number of new EHC plans issued in the calendar year has continued to increase. 84,400 new EHC plans were made during the 2023 calendar year. The number of new EHC plans made during the calendar year has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.

The number of initial requests for an EHC plan in the calendar year has continued to increase.  There were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan during 2023, up from 114,500 in 2022. Apart from a decrease in 2020, an atypical year when the pandemic was disrupting both education and local authority services, initial requests have increased each year since EHC plans were introduced.

The proportion of new plans issued within 20 weeks has increased. In 2023, 50.3% of new EHC plans were issued within 20 weeks. This is an increase compared to 2022 when the figure was 49.2%.

Green Party publish their election manifesto.  On the issue of education, the manifesto makes the following statements:

• Advocate an increase in school funding with a £8bn investment;
• Removing charitable status from private schools and charging full vat on fees;
• Retain a full, evidence-based and age–appropriate programme of Relationships, Sex and Health Education, including LGBTIQA+ content and resources;
• Push for £5bn to be invested in special needs (SEND) provision within mainstream schools;
• Protect provision of free school breakfast clubs to all primary school pupils;
• Fully restore the role of the school nurse;
• Fully fund every higher education student, restoring maintenance grants and scrapping under graduate tuition fees;
• Our long-term plans include seeking to cancel the injustice of graduate debt.

Conservative and Unionist Party publish their election manifesto. On the issue of education, the manifesto makes the following statements:

• Give young people the skills and opportunities they deserve by introducing mandatory National Service;
• Fund 100,000 high quality apprenticeships;
• Ban the use of mobile phones during the school day;
• Ensuing parents can see what their children are being taught, especially on sensitive matters like sex education;
• Introducing the Advanced British Standard enabling young people to receive a broader education;
• Mandate 2 hours of PE every week in primary and secondary schools;
• Legislate to create a register of children not in school;
• Expand strong academy trusts;
• Delivering 60,000 more school places and a further 15 new free schools for children with special educational needs;
• Close university courses in England with the worst outcomes for their students.

Liberal Democrats publish their election manifesto. On the issue of education, the manifesto makes the following statements:

• A fair deal where every child can go to a good school and have real opportunities to fulfil their potential;
• Creating a teacher workforce strategy to ensure every secondary school child is taught by a specialist teacher in their subject;
• Broaden the curriculum and make qualifications at 16 and 18 fit for the 21^st century;
• Improve the quality of vocational training;
• Strengthen careers advice;
• Expand provision of extracurricular activities, such as sport, music, drama, debating and coding, starting with a new free entitlement for disadvantaged children;
• Implement a new parental engagement strategy;
• Tackle persistent absence;
• Tackle the crisis in special educational needs provision;
• Establishing a new National Body for SEND to fund support for children with very high needs;
• Tackle bullying in schools by promoting pastoral leadership in schools and delivering high-quality relationships and sex education;
• Safeguard the future of our world-leading universities and the wellbeing of every student;
• Giving higher education institutions a statutory duty of care for their students.

Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes “The state of education: what awaits the next government?” The report includes findings that, “England is one of the best-performing countries in terms of school-age attainment. Over the past decade, the literacy and numeracy skills of 15-year-olds in England have improved significantly relative to other high-income countries. While England is middle-of-the-pack on inequalities, among the OECD only Canada, Estonia, Ireland and Japan manage to deliver both stronger average attainment and lower inequality than England.” There is also a finding that, “The number of children on an Education, Health and Care plan – the highest tier of support for special educational needs – has risen by 60% since 2016. This increase is even more striking since there is evidence of schools and local authorities rationing support; 98% of appeals are successful at tribunals. Not unrelatedly, the rise in EHC plans has been faster among less disadvantaged families.”

Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes “School spending in England: a guide to the debate during the 2024 general election”. The report includes a statement: “The number of pupils assessed as having the highest levels of special educational needs (i.e. with an Education, Health and Care Plan) increased by over 60% from about 220,000 in 2015 to about 360,000 in 2022. This was mostly driven by a near[1]doubling in the numbers of pupils with autistic spectrum disorders, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health needs. This has placed huge pressure on school spending. The £3.5 billion increase in the high-needs budget since 2015 has taken up nearly half of the £7.6 billion increase in school spending since 2015.”

BBC report their own “investigation has found the number of children moving to home education in the UK is at its highest level since the pandemic. Councils received almost 50,000 notifications in the last academic year from families wanting to take their children out of school. This does not include children already being home educated. The latest government figures suggest mental health is the biggest reason for the rise.”

As part of the Conservative Party manifesto for the forthcoming General Election on 4 July 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that if returned to power a Conservative Government will close down under performing universities “that are letting young people down”.  The PM also said that independent studies show 1 in 5 people would be financially better off if they did not do a degree. He also said 1 in 3 graduates are in non graduate jobs.

Department for Education published an update to its statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on safeguarding children and safer recruitment, Keeping Children Safe in Education. The final version will come into force in September 2024. The updated guidance contains relatively minor amendments including advice to schools to take a “cautious approach” in respect of children gender questioning.

BBC reports Nigerian students have been thrown off university courses and ordered to leave the UK because a currency crisis has left them unable to pay fees.

BBC report on findings in response to Freedom of Information requests sent to 152 local education authorities. The FOI asked about supporting children with education, health and care plans (EHCP). The findings suggest, at least 12 councils are completing EHCP assessments within the 20-week limit in fewer than 10% of cases; of those, 8 councils are issuing plans within the timeframe in fewer than 5% of cases; in Essex, 9 out of 1,360 cases were completed in time between April and December last year, giving the authority one of the lowest rates. Five years ago, 66% of plans were on time;  in Portsmouth, out of 148 cases, only one was completed within the time limit – compared with five years ago when 95% of cases were on time.

Government publish statutory guidance on “Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education”. This consultation states “Gender identity is a highly contested and complex subject….If asked about gender identity, schools should teach the facts about biological sex and not use any materials that present contested views as fact, including the view that gender is a spectrum.”

Year 6 pupils take their key stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests (SATs) 13- 16 May 2024, inclusive.

BBC reports that Birmingham City Council have told parents of special educational needs and disabilities children, they will have to pay more for transport, to get their children to college and sixth form.

BBC report that Ofsted reported the service for children with special educational needs and disabilities has been “too poor for too long”. The BBC report states, “Ofsted found trust had broken down in the services run by Bury Council and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board.  “Widespread failings” such as poor communication, long waits for assessments, and lack of provision were identified in an inspection held in February.”

Prime Minister calls on university leaders to protect Jewish students. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “Universities should be places of rigorous debate but also bastions of tolerance and respect for every member of their community. A vocal minority on our campuses are disrupting the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse. That has to stop.”  “The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) have criticised the “toxic environment” faced by Jewish students across the country. According to the Communities Security Trust, there was an increase of 203% in university-related antisemitic incidents between 2022 and 2023.”

The Government announced its intention to launch a consultation on lifting the 50% cap on faith school places alongside proposals opening special faith based academies.  The “consultation will explore how to maximise the benefits that high quality academy trusts deliver, and in particular how to improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by opening special faith-based academies.”

BBC reports, “Staff were filmed hitting, kicking and leaving special school pupils in their own urine. Despite the school proving abuse in so-called “calming rooms”, some staff are still employed there and have not been barred from working with children. Whitefield School said it acted in pupils’ best interests and was not obliged to make barring referrals. The Children’s Commissioner for England says the BBC’s findings are “horrifying” and rules on seclusion should be tightened. “There is no place for any of that behaviour and it needs to stop,” Dame Rachel de Souza says.”

Ofsted Inspection Report of the Islamic Tarbiyyah Preparatory School, an independent Islamic faith school in Bradford, carried out between 19 – 21 September 2023. The school has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. The Ofsted Inspection report contained the following statements.  “When speaking with inspectors, pupils explained that in Year 6, boys and girls do not have the same options available to them in school….For example, during extended periods of social time, older girls are unable to access the same games and play opportunities as boys….During these periods of time, female pupils help the female staff with the youngest pupils, while male pupils play sports….This does not support pupils’ understanding that aspirations and interests are not limited by gender… Girls say that they are treated differently from boys…Female pupils in Year 6 are unable to access the shared space with male pupils at lunchtime and during afternoon breaks…This prevents them accessing the same games as boys at lunchtimes and playtimes…Stereotypes linked to girls being emotionally weaker than boys are not challenged.”

The National Crime Agency (“NCA”) issued an alert to hundreds of thousands of education professionals following a considerable increase in global cases of financially motivated sexual extortion – a type of online blackmail widely known as ‘sextortion’.  The NCA gave advice about spotting the signs of this type of abuse, supporting young people and encouraging them to seek help. It also includes guidance to be disseminated to parents and carers on how to talk to their child about sextortion, and how to support them if they become a victim – aiming to take away the stigma surrounding the topic and, in turn, power away from those who wish to harm them.