Above all

Yesterday I was talking to a SEND consultant about a SEND offer made by a SEND setting outwith the local authority, but very much of the locality. The boss expects that all staff work "beyond the drive". I didn't understand this phrase at first. It turns out, it's one of those romantic estates in the countryside, built of stone and slate, reeking of old money, now given new life, and giving new life to its learners.

Their offer is training and consultancy, case studies, award-winning innovations, and above all working with SEND learners. So much to share because they've worked out how to not be firefighting, not live in crisis mode. These are (some) of the Experts at Hand we're going to need if the SEND reforms will truly reform the system.

At the same time, I can't help thinking about the SEND deficit, which this setting has helped to grow with its "exorbitant fees". Of course, this place is a non-profit, and works closely with the local authority. But the deficit exists because the government decided not to fund the 2015 Code of Practice, and instead used an accounting device to "sweep it under the carpet". The deficit is now being used by the government to force through their (money saving?) reforms with a 90% write-off if the local authority writes a DfE approved Local SEND Reform Plan.

Is mainstream ready? As Georgia Gould said at the Special Needs Jungle webinar on 13 May 2026

"mainstream schools need to change", "there'll be mandatory training for every teacher", and learners must "feel seen".

And that's what I was really talking about yesterday with my new friend, the SEND consultant. What we need from the DfE training for teachers, teaching assistants, and senior leaders, is a change in the way they see the world. That's what our little consortium to deliver this training will try to do, above all else.

Honestly, that's what the whole of society needs. To see SEND learners as genuinely belonging in the world. To see that "becoming tax payers" isn't the only way to be. But if that's the only option, above all, we must give SENDies the actual support they actually need to access work.