Golden, as always. Bureaucratic barriers to common sense solutions are especially frustrating. It feels like a sensible but huge ask - how are the grassroots examples being shared across and up?

Tea with dad sounds lovely. I’m off to see a comedian and stay up way later than I should heading a very long early drive tomorrow morning!

Why don’t you just stop doing all that pesky paperwork?

Yep: I think the logical and achievable solutions that are apparent based on a superficial understanding of the system and the ones apparent based on a deeper understanding are not at all the same thing. This is how we end up with a lot of ‘why don’t you just…?’

I feel like I’ve said this to lots of people in lots of ways over the last couple of years! I know many others have too. I lose sleep over what might be on the horizon.

Exactly this. A SENCO saying they don’t have time to do the paperwork for an annual review or needs assessment, or the APDR process in their school, is like a plumber saying they don’t have time for pipes or a mechanic saying they don’t have time to look at engines.

The big one though is access to the services that support us. In this system or the next, timely access to EP, SALT, specialist teams, CAMHS, school nurses, counselling, need to be available at the earliest, most preventative point. To me, this alone would bring balance to the system.

There are things that, whatever change is on the horizon, need to be addressed either way. One is this issue of SEND understanding across leadership and SENCO line management. Another is the postcode lottery and another is how SEND and inclusion are represented in ITT/ECF/NPQ.

If there’s a possibility of reducing bureaucracy without losing important process then we should take it, of course. What really needs to happen though is for the knowledge, expertise and ownership to be distributed across more people, taking that single point of pressure off one person alone.

I worry when I hear talk of reducing SEND admin - there’s a lot for sure, but SENCOs aren’t drowning in a sea of paperwork that could just be ignored or given to someone else to do. That’s almost a bit insulting to assume, isn’t it?

I’m here!

A focus on teachers teaching, silos being broken down and lessons being made accessible are all key features of the Dixons approach. Read the case study in full here: inclusioninpractice.org.uk/wp-content/u... (2/3)

I don’t have my own personal experience. I do think that, under this system or a future one (good or bad), for a child and their family and within each school, it will come down to the ownership, effort and implementation choices of the leadership there.

Better depth of understanding, better implemented systems, and so real soul searching and reflection I know can change the culture.

I don’t disagree. This is why I think reform needs to include training incorporating understanding ableism and bias, and I do think better clarity on best practice and what works would help - poor outcomes associated with SEND are due to poor practice related to SEND, not the children.

Seems reasonable to me.