Special educational needs sector in 'crisis', school says

A Wolverhampton school for pupils with special educational needs (Send) is hoping to take on more pupils after discussing issues around provision in the city during a visit by local MP Warinder Juss.

Samantha Webster and Emma Rennie-Gibbons, opened independent alternative provision (AP) Leading Futures at Pendeford Business Park in 2024 after seeing children "fall through the gaps" in mainstream and special education settings.

The former head teacher and deputy head teacher said provision was in crisis, but they were struggling for referrals and invited the Labour MP for Wolverhampton West to their school earlier this month.

Juss said he wanted to work with them, adding that by "investing in local, high-quality provision like this, we can improve outcomes and deliver better value for money".

Leading Futures has capacity for 40 part-time pupils, but said it currently had just four.

Placements are paid for by the local authority or by parents educating children at home needing tutoring sessions.

"SEND provision in the UK is in crisis," Ms Rennie-Gibbons, director of service, said.

"EHCPs [education, health and care plan] are hard to access, support is inconsistent, and funding is stretched beyond breaking point.

"Families are exhausted, educators are overwhelmed, and children are being let down."

"We know there are thousands of children out of school right now, due to EBSNA [emotionally based school non-attendance], unmet needs, or being forced into home education because there's simply no suitable provision," Ms Webster, director of Send, said.

"And yet, despite this growing need, we're struggling to secure referrals."

After visiting the school, Juss said staff were "tackling some of the toughest challenges in our education system".

"These are issues that cannot be ignored," he said.

"I want to work with them and the local authority to ensure funding models and referral processes reflect the real cost of inclusive, therapeutic education."

Across the board, placements like these - provided outside of the state special school sector - do not come cheap.

Leading Futures said its fees were "competitive" and dependent on need, but nationally the cost of Send provision is putting many councils in England under huge financial pressure.

According to the government there were more than 100,000 extra Send pupils in England in 2023-24 than the year before - a trend that has been fairly consistent since 2016.

Extra funding has not kept pace with the need, and according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, councils are expected to have accumulated a total debt of about £8bn by March 2027.

A government white paper into the future of Send funding has been delayed until March 2026.

In June, Juss called for the government to review funding for children with special education needs, after statistics found nearly one in five pupils were receiving support in the classroom.

He said there were nearly 9,000 pupils receiving support within his constituency, about 18% of the total pupil population.

The school is not registered with Ofsted, a move it said was intended to "retain our autonomy and creativity" in catering for a specific group of pupils, but it is registered with the City of Wolverhampton Council.

A spokesperson for the City of Wolverhampton Council said: "Leading Futures has actively engaged with the council and has recently successfully secured a place on our Alternative Provision Framework.

"Inclusion on the framework enables both the council and local schools to commission placements with the provider."

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