Hi George,

I think there are lots of things that councils can do to ensure that children with particular needs are appropriately supported for learning.

We need to make sure that we have a good provision of special school places which meet the needs of young people where mainstream schools are not appropriate. We also need to ensure that the facilities in our mainstream schools, and the training and ability of teachers in those schools, are appropriate for those young people who want to be in mainstream education but have particular requirements.

This isn’t always easy as each young person will have different learning needs which require the council to be consistently and persistently looking at what services it provides, adapting them when appropriate. In Bucks, whilst we recognise that we are not perfect, we do know that many parents move to the county to make use of our Special Educational Needs services.

In terms of what I can do, as a councillor, I think that I need to have good and regular conversations with you, the young people receiving extra support, your parents (who obviously will have very strong views), and I need to make sure that the officers of the council understand that SEN is a priority area for me and should budget and behave accordingly.

Does this help?

I have a child who is special needs so I have seen the issues from both sides. The important thing is to try and provide the relevant support to the child so they can get on. The support must be geared to the child’s needs and be provided in a timely way so that the child is not hindered or disadvantaged in their learning.

As how I can help it is to ensure the Council fulfils it’s obligations to children ith special needs, and listening and learning from families as to the help required.

Hi George

How do you feel that you need help? Do people listen to you and understand the help that you are asking for? My son was speacial needs and I as a mother had to instigate all additional help for him. Please let me know. Ruth

Special needs covers a wide range of situations. We are lucky to have some really excellent special schools in Bucks for those children who, for whatever reason, would not be able to manage in mainstream schools. But there are lots of children with special needs who are likely to do better in a mainstream school, where they can mix with other children for most of their lessons. The secret is to give them more support where they need it most, so that they can get the most out of the opportunities they have on offer. It’s really important that children with special needs are in the right sort of school so they can achieve the very best that they can.