Spotlight on SEND: Sunderland headteacher says 'we have some of best provision' but not enough

The headteacher of a special school in Sunderland says it is a "travesty" that children are going without the support they need to access education.

James Waller, from Sunningdale School, is calling for more specialist provision for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to meet increasing demand.

It comes as a poll for ITV News Regions and Nations, carried out by Opinium, revealed that 60% of parents in the Tyne Tees area had to take time out of school because their children's needs could not be met - while 35% of parents said they turned to the legal system to get the provision their child needed.

As parents and charities on Monday described the SEND system as "broken", there are calls for an overhaul of the system.

Two thirds of specialist schools are full in the Tyne Tees area, including Sunningdale School.

Mr Waller has worked in the sector for 20 years and said demand is higher than ever, with change urgently needed.

"The level of complexity in children that attend the setting has increased massively," he told ITV News Tyne Tees.

"That's not just children with profound multiple learning difficulties, but some of the of the children that attend the school that have severe learning difficulties and autism, the complexity of their conditions in the way that conditions present is really increased.

"This has changed the nature of special schools. We're really catering to an entirely different population of children than we maybe were ten years ago or 15 years ago."

Spotlight on SEND numbers in the Tyne Tees region

• 937 - the number of children awaiting assessment for additional support in school (as of May 2024)

• 413 - number of children waiting for a place in school (as of May 2024)

Mr Waller said while the system was not working, the provision when it is delivered is high quality.

"We have some of the best provision in the world in this country," he continued.

"In terms of our funding and the mechanisms around funding and the places available were obviously at a point where there's a lot of pressure on the system, there aren't enough specialist places, there are not enough special schools or specialist provisions.

"We have children on long waiting lists in a lot of areas. I mean, it's a travesty that we're not able to to meet the needs of all of the children that need that specialist intervention.

"I think any any headteacher of a special school would be sat here telling you they would take every child that they possibly could."

Spending time at the school is uplifting for pupils and parents say their children are thriving.

Charlotte Atwill, whose son Brody attends the school, said it was "heartbreaking" that not all families are getting these opportunities.

She told ITV News Tyne Tees: "I just feel sorry for them that there's places like this that exist that are just so full of capacity that their children are then missing out on things that they really deserve to have.

"There needs to be more places like Sunningdale, and there are just far too many children out there who aren't getting the education that they deserve to have.

"We could have been one of those families where we were left without the support that you need, not just for the child, which is who is obviously the most important person, but as a family, the impact that it has when that child isn't at a school that is meeting the needs is stressful for the child, which then has an impact on everybody else in the household.

"We've just been so lucky. I can't imagine not having Sunningdale."

What do parents say?

In an exclusive poll of parents of children with special educational needs by ITV News Regions and Nations:

• 25% of parents said they would rate the service they get as poor, while 40% said it was good

• 26% said they didn’t feel that their child gets everything they’re entitled to in their EHC, while 57% said they did get everything

• 60% said their child had had to take time out of school because their needs could not be met

• 37% of those above said their child had been out of school for between a month and a year

• 35% of parents said they had used the legal system to get the SEND provision their child needed

• 25% of those parents said they had to spend between £5,000 and £50,000 on legal costs.

• 39% of parents who went down the legal route had to fund these costs by using their savings, while 34% said they had to borrow from banks, and/or credit unions or online lenders to pay for it

• 27% of parents said they had seen a negative impact on their mental health as a result of inappropriate provision

• 27% of parents said they had seen a negative impact on their child or young person’s mental health as a result of inappropriate SEND provision.

Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary, and Labour's MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, said SEND is one of the new government's top priorities.

She said: "I think parents recognise it just isn't working at the moment and I want to make sure that everything that we're doing is focused on making sure children get that great start in life, but also a push around what more we can do within our mainstream schools to make sure they can cater for children with with a range of additional needs.

"I think training and support for staff will be a crucial part of that, because I hear time and again that they haven't felt supported in making sure they can deliver really high quality teaching and support for children who do have additional needs."

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