A rash of national reports, and now Parliamentary debates, acknowledge the failure - for a whole decade - of government to adequately fund the 2014 SEND reforms.

Can we please now stop blaming families and children and instead, listen, support and help. 5/5

This language and narrative is indicative of the underlying attitude toward families of children with SEND, with parents increasingly portrayed as demanding and combative; when all we want is for our children to receive a decent education. Like the law states they should. 4/5

Only a few weeks ago, the council leader inappropriately accused families, and me personally, of believing that an EHCP is a “magic bullet” - we believe no such thing - and I don’t appreciate the weaponary reference. 3/5

So it was dismaying that this week’s Scrutiny Committee report again contained unwarranted adversarial language when referring to how officers would be directed to communicate with families requesting “unnecessary” EHCP needs assessments and specialist placements. 2/5