First They Came

First they came for the private schools
And I did not speak out
Because my children do not go to private school

Then they came for the pensioners
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a pensioner

Then they came for the disabled

And I did not speak out

Because I am not disabled

And now they are coming for our children…

Apologies for plagiarising Pastor Martin Niemöller‘s confessional poem First They Came but it felt appropriate today. You see our current Labour government have been attacking nearly every category of citizen in the UK in a desperate attempt to reduce our massive and ever-growing debts as a country. I’ll not delve into the politics of this too much except to say that when Kier Starmer took the keys to Number 10 last year I was worried about the future of our country but with small consolation that our most vulnerable would be protected. This was the Labour Party, the party of high tax and high spend who are, apparently, always on the side of the least well off in society. Their politics of envy didn’t disappoint when they applied VAT on private school fees. “The parents are rich so they can afford it” was the basic message and fingers were put in ears when it was pointed out that this wouldn’t raise a penny of extra income but would simply increase pressure on mainstream schools. Which it has. Pensioners and the disabled were next on the list but fortunately Kier has performed several U-turns and reversed his proposal once the backlash became deafening and could no longer be ignored.

We need a U Turn

So we need another U Turn. A U Turn on a policy that has yet to be announced but it already in the works. Over the weekend and this morning various Labour ministers have been testing the water, as they like to do, on reforms to the EHCP process. Rumours have been heard that children in mainstream schools will not be eligible for an EHCP which is, and please excuse my language here, fucking mental! In fact it is akin to the shocking policy Kent County Council are trying to introduce as we speak whereby more children with special needs will be forced into mainstream schools ill-equipped to meet their needs. So soon we may have a double-whammy:

• If your child is in mainstream school they will not be entitled to an EHCP, a legally-binding document that details interventions that must be made to meet their specific needs which can include moving them to a specialist school
• If your child is in a specialist school in Kent they may end up being moved back to a mainstream setting if they are able to “access the mainstream curriculum”. Whatever that means.

We are all affected

Anyone familiar with the process can see the very obvious flaw here. An EHCP is the only way to get a child into specialist schools that are able to educate them. No EHCP, no specialist schools. I guess you could always send your child to a private school as thousands did for their SEND kids already failed by the state-maintained system. Except this has now got 20% more expensive.

You have to feel for the teachers too. Apparently Labour’s brilliant plan is to make all schools inclusive which, whilst a fine idea in theory, would in reality require the rebuilding of every school in the country and the retraining of every teacher. Oh, and doubling the size of every school. And employing thousands more teachers. It’s never going to happen. So as anyone with a brain can see, all this will do it put added pressure on already-overworked teachers

You’ll notice in my poem at the start of this post that I said they were coming for our children. Not just children with additional needs but all of our children. Add a couple of children with specific needs to a mainstream class and what do you think will happen to the standard of education for the rest of the class whilst the teacher is providing movement breaks, sensory regulation, therapy-supported exercise and one-to-one reading support to those SEND kids? Hint: it won’t go up.

Our voice needs to be heard

Anyone that knows me will know that I generally wouldn’t even use The Guardian to light my BBQ! But there is a good piece today that sums up what many parents now fear and I concur with the sub-heading: After disability benefits, is Labour really about to target the educational rights of special needs children?

Whether you think this affects you or not (and trust me, it does), could I please ask you to sign the petition that currently has 111,348 signatures.

It would also help if you could spare a few more minutes to write to your MP using the template and instructions here.

With the Conservatives having let down our children for over a decade and Labour about to make things a whole lot worse, the only hope we have of at least keeping things as bad as they are is to force another U-Turn from Kier Starmer’s Labour Party.

And that in itself is a pretty sad state of affairs to be in.