Best Schools - Families forced to sell their homes in fight for special needs support

Parents of children with special educational needs are having to sell their homes to fund legal battles to get the support to which they are entitled.

Some are having to take local authorities to court five times to secure an education for their children, according to Ambitious about Autism. “We’ve spoken to parents who have sold their homes, lost their life savings or changed retirement plans,” Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of the charity, said.

Councils are obliged to identify pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and pay for their support. This week the Commons education committee published a report that described the SEN system as “rife with unlawful practice from councils. . . leaving families in debt”.

The Department for Education said it had begun a review of SEN services. It said the tribunal aims to be “accessible, so that it should not be necessary to employ legal support”.

Headmaster responds to Labour’s plans to integrate independent schools into the state sector

Gareth Doodes, Head of Dover College thinks that Labour’s plans are a “wake up call for our sector”.

I think that every leader of an independent school felt deep concern hearing of Labour’s policy to integrate independent schools into the maintained sector. It was a shocking attack following mounting pressure over a number of years.

Many will say that the move is about equality. Others will say it is Momentum launching its long-awaited class war against what it sees as the elite. A few in the sector will blame the sector itself for not adapting to the economic climate, or undertaking an inter-school arms race by building facilities that are the envy of the world, but which others view as denying financial aid to those who need it most.

The whole language of the debate around independent education disappoints me. Every time private schools appear in the media, photos of white, bow tie-wearing pupils accompany the copy, gowns flowing as they walk into Eton. If a former independent school pupil commits a crime, it is the first thing mentioned in a news report.

Despite all of this, we need to collectively re-fashion the narrative and use the Labour Party vote as a wake-up call for the independent sector.

There is more to lose, both for the fabric of society and financially, should a stereotype eclipse the reality of our sector. It is important to remind ourselves, and our critics, of the missions of our schools. Above all, as we face criticism from many quarters, we need to celebrate the enormous contribution our sector makes to the United Kingdom and the wider world.