Back in 2024, John visited Newman School, which specialises in SEND support for children aged 2-19

Thousands of children with SEND across Rotherham and Doncaster will benefit from groundbreaking new legal entitlements to an individual support plan under new plans announced by the government.

The plans, backed by £4 billion of investment in SEND support, to make every school inclusive will end the one size fits all education system that has damaged the lives of too many children.

In a radical expansion in rights and support for every child, there will be a new legal requirement for schools to create Individual Support Plans (ISPs) for all children with SEND.

Every ISP will draw from a national framework of actions which schools can take to give children the best education and life chances, personalised by the teachers and specialists who know them best.

The support ISPs set out will be easily available, without a fight, thanks to the government’s multi-billion-pound investment in specialist school places and services like speech and language therapy.

EHCPs will be retained and improved – offering a wider legal entitlement beyond the ISP to more intensive or complex support than schools can routinely provide.

And a triple lock of transitional protections will mean no child loses effective support already in place:

  • Every child who has a special school place in 2029 will keep it if they want it until they finish education.
  • Transition for children with an EHCP in mainstream who will best supported via an ISP rather than an EHCP in future will only begin from 2030 once the new inclusive mainstream system has been fully built, and only then as children naturally move between phases, like from primary to secondary.
  • ISPs will be in place for children who are transitioning from an EHCP before they move to the new system, so there is no break in support.

It comes as the White Paper sets out a decade-long mission to make every child and family feel engaged and included in an education system broad enough to meet all children’s needs – creating opportunity for every child to achieve and thrive at school and succeed and flourish in life.

John Healey, said:

“Labour believes that your background shouldn’t dictate where you end up, but too many children with SEND across Rotherham and Doncaster have been held back by an education system that doesn’t work for them.

“The SEND system designed a decade ago for a small number of children is now at breaking point after ten years of Tory rule. That’s led to parents having to fight tooth and nail for entitlements on paper that don’t see them getting additional support – and children’s lives and chances have suffered as a result.

“Today’s plans will take children with SEND from sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included. Every child will get the brilliant support they deserve, when they need it, as routine and without a fight.

“Only Labour will help our children achieve and thrive at school, so they go on to lead better lives and build a brighter future.”

Full details of the government’s proposals are as set out in the Schools White Paper and SEND consultation document.

You can get involved with the consultation here.