Georgia Gould visits Colchester school to shape SEND overhaul plans

Georgia Gould is in a race against time. And the minister responsible for overhauling England’s special educational needs provision is hoping that a state school in Colchester will help her beat the clock.

Gould visited Thomas Lord Audley secondary school last week to see the secrets of its success in persuading local parents that it can help children with special needs thrive in a mainstream setting.

Under the government’s proprosals announced in February, more funding and universal support are to be given to mainstream schools to accommodate children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

The schools minister told the Guardian that institutions such as Thomas Lord Audley are doing many things that will become national policy under the new system.

“What they are doing here is a really powerful example of best practice,” Gould said, explaining how the school engages with families and pupils a year or more in advance of entry, and draws up bespoke plans for pupils’ needs similar to the government’s proposed digital records to track and share day-to-day support for children with special needs, called individual support plans.

Gould said: “Part of the work we are trying to do, to transform the system towards inclusion, is to take the best practices from schools like this, and make sure that people can see the evidence and the impact they have on things like attendance … And then we want to spread that practice.

“Of course, schools want to do everything in their power to support children and it’s important that they get a blueprint to be able to do that.”

The hope is that the new tiers of support and national standards will be in place by 2030, when the government wants education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – which many families now use to access support – to be narrowed down to those with the most profound educational needs and disabilities.

But the government’s white paper will allow existing EHCPs to remain in place after 2030. In doing so it may have created a surge of applications from families who fear missing out if they don’t get in before that deadline. That surge means the legacy of EHCPs will absorb funding desperately needed by the new system of support that does not require parents to jump through legal hoops.

“We’re really determined to put that support in place so parents don’t need to fight and battle and go through a bureaucratic process,” Gould said, highlighting evidence she has seen from Rochdale schools that offer early intervention for speech and language difficulties.

“They’ve seen an 85% reduction in referrals for speech and language support because they were able to meet much more of that need at a universal level earlier on, and then those children who did go for an assessment were ones who really needed that specialist extra support. There are models that show this is possible, so we want that early support to be available to everyone.”

Simon Essex, the executive head of Thomas Lord Audley, said the school had earned the trust of parents in Colchester so that it is now oversubscribed.

“We want to serve our community,” he said. “We don’t want any young people who live nearby who can’t come here because we can’t meet their needs.

“That’s our goal, and if that attracts others then we will work hard with the local authority to make it work. That’s why I’m hoping that the funding the government will bring will enable all schools to have the same mindset that we have for these young people.”