December is a frantic time for all schools, and special schools are no different, except that feelings are more extreme, exacerbated by the anticipation of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people and their families, preparing for a Christmas that is likely not to meet ‘Insta-standards’. It’s a perfect analogy for the sector more broadly.
Like all schools, we are planning various Christmas activities and parental events while clinging on to the timetable for some stability in the last weeks of the darkest, wettest, and windiest term of the year.
All the while, our conscientious, empathetic staff team pull together to make the best of what we can muster to enable our students to experience the ‘nice bits’ of the festive period.
In the background, we help prepare our families with social stories and signposts for access to wider services of domestic support in case they need help during the two weeks that school is closed.
This, against the backdrop of student behaviour taking a significant dip at the end of the long first term, really hits. But we know the autumn term is a long hurdle that we will all overcome, and so we persevere towards a new year.
More than any other time of year, I find myself each December reminding my teams of how far we have come and the difference we’ve made to individuals experiencing the most challenging circumstances.
We also remind ourselves how we beat the tough days with relentless determination, knowledge, and skill, and how we blow the stereotype ‘special-school child’ narrative out of the water with relentless drive and aspiration for better. Reflection brings hope. Great teams of great people make a great difference for our great children!
With one in four local authorities (LAs) likely to need emergency government support to avoid bankruptcy in the next few years (as reported by the Local Government Association this October), the situation for schools as frontline support for children and families continues to be challenging.
The County Councils Network state that 26 of the largest councils may have to declare bankruptcy by 2027 if they cannot get their multi-billion SEND deficits under control.
Stopping the leaking taps could cause pipes to burst
From a leadership perspective, in the past 12 months, we have seen a U turn on LA spend-to-save strategic plans to a (simply put) ‘save now’ model.
There is finally a recognition of over-reliance on special schools, particularly those in the expensive independent sector. However, putting a complete ‘stop’ to the leaking taps without investment to the rest of the ever-swelling SEND system means pipelines are about to burst.
Decisions to re-commission independent spaces into existing maintained special schools would be music to my ears, and absolutely the right thing to do in most cases. But we need sufficient funds and time to adjust and develop new provisions that can meet the complexity of need of these young people.
Without this proper investment, it becomes a high-risk strategy that only fuels anxiety for families as their children communicate unmet needs through their behaviours, and unstable school placements.
It is therefore vital that we avoid unintended consequences to wider public services including putting further pressure on the NHS, particularly CAMHS, social care, and police.
Placing highly complex students in schools not yet set up and ready to meet their needs creates a high-pressure situation for all, including the emotional turmoil to families, and the health, safety and wellbeing to the wider population of students and staff.
We know that there are great people, excellent schools and exceptional trusts who are trying to manage the pressures within a dislocated system. All are searching for the win-win in a vacuum of direction.
With the new year comes a renewed hope that the solutions emerge from this collective effort of dynamic listening, learning and action so that in a years’ time, we can all reflect back on how far we have come for our most vulnerable learners.
The solutions are out there, they lie in the system collaborating and commissioning with the highest level of support from those who control the current barriers to success.
Maybe that doesn’t make for ‘Insta-ready’ politics – but it’s the politics we need.
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