The SEND crisis

Hello everyone, hope you've all been keeping well. Thank god January is finally over, as I feel like it just drags on forever & ever. Even more crazier as to how we're in February already?!

Anyway, work has been rapidly picking up for me again, where I have been working in exactly 6 different schools alone for this month - Crazy isn't it?

One of the schools I have been working in (The Cambridge Primary School), where I have been working in for 4 days over the past 3 weeks, is actually a mainstream primary school in Hampshire. However, they are taking on SEN kids, as there are not enough SEN schools in the Hampshire area. And as the above title states, I will be talking about why the SEND is in crisis, as well as the many cons of SEN kids being in mainstream school settings.

For those of you who work in education, you will all know by now that the SEND is in a significant heap of trouble, as there are still far too many young people with SEN who are currently placed in the wrong school settings, or worse, currently out of a school setting due to nowhere nearby that will meet their needs.

This is because councils across the UK are running short on money to be able to provide more specialist education for SEN pupils. Moreover, specialist school settings cannot be built due to the financial difficulties that the councils face. As a poor result, so many young people are missing out on a normal education. 

As mentioned before, I work in education, and I have seen for myself the devastating impact that an unstable education can have on a young person. Let alone a young person with SEN. Going back to where I have been briefly working at The Cambridge Primary School, I have seen multiple kids there with varying SEN, who shouldn't even be placed in a mainstream school like this. But because of there not being enough SEN schools in Hampshire, or even in that part of Hampshire of where the said Primary School is located, they have no choice but to endure it.

It's utterly shameful, and something clearly must be done. The question is when?

If some kids who happen to have SEN can cope in a mainstream school, then good for them. Unfortunately, there are a majority of SEN kids who simply cannot function, let alone cope in a mainstream school due to a number of reasons. Bullying is the topmost one, as there are "normal" kids out there who do not understand SEN, or do have an understanding of SEN, but choose to mock kids with SEN anyway.

Another valid reason is some mainstream schools & school staff won't be able to accommodate SEN kids into their schools due to not having the relevant training or lesson resources to cater for SEN kids. 

All of the reasons explained will lead to SEN kids feeling unsafe & insecure, as well as potentially being set up to fail in later life. God knows, where they may end up going if this crisis continues.

The Department of Education, you have got an awful lot of mess to clean up. 

How the power of play is so impactful on young people

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a good August, I know I have!

I say that, as I was working during the weekday for 3 weeks from the 28th of July - the 19th of August. Not to mention that I got to enjoy myself doing other things over the weekends in between as well. I even had a an enjoyable holiday from the 20th and only got back home yesterday (the 28th).

Since I have downtime for most of today, I thought I'd do a post on here which is inspired by the Challengers' Impact Report of 2025. Especially how my life involves that place at the moment. It will mainly consist of how play is so vitally important to help young people with various disabilities navigate the world.

One of the core values at Challengers, is to NEVER exclude anyone regardless of how complex their needs are. This is done to ensure that they all fit, as well as interact with every other young person on scheme who all have similar needs to them.

Now, let's talk about inclusivity... What do we do at Challengers to ensure every young person feels included on scheme? The answer couldn't be much simpler, we provide a range of activities which are all accessible to suite every young person's need. Even if the activities are not accessible to some young people at first, we will always make every effort to make them accessible to those young people.

This also leads me to the next rhetorical question... How do all of the staff at Challengers let the young people have fun playing on scheme? We (as staff members) undergo regular safeguarding, first aid & crisis drills training to ensure every young person who comes on scheme is in safe hands & well looked after. To this extent, we get visits from Ofsted to check we meet the safeguarding needs that Challengers provides to young people.

And the big rhetorical question... Why are both of these things blended together so vitally important for young people to play on scheme? This is because we are dedicated to bringing laughter & smiles out of these young people despite the challenging behaviour that they present us with. Although in all of the schemes I've worked in, it's some more than others. Allowing challenging young people to play really helps them to become more happier, and they can demonstrate that (verbally or not) by interacting with us, as they rarely get so much of that much needed intensive interaction elsewhere. Some young people are even aware of how well we look after their medical needs, as we will always welcome them with warm arms into our schemes where no other place would due to how complex their medical or behaviour needs are.

To see the evidence for yourselves, I have attached the Impact Report of 2025: https://disability-challengers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Challengers-Impact-Report-2024-25.pdf

*I began this post on the 29/8, but didn't finish it until the 30/8*

MIND, you are amazing at what you do, and never give up... Ever...

Happy Saturday all! Hope you're all enjoying it so far, as for the rest of this week. I know I haven't been paying much attention on here lately, as I have been too occupied with my coursework & my jobs. 

During this time, I was disappointed to see on MIND's social media that the UK government has let down people's mental health, again... Although I do not consider myself to be somebody who requires support from any mental health professional who may have a degree of some sort, but I do consider myself to be somebody who cares about mental health being taken into consideration. Especially when it comes to people suffering from their mental health by having no one to turn to, as well as to seek professional advice. Read about it here: https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/uk-government-shelves-the-mental-health-bill/

Because I am a part of MIND'S workforce, I feel like it's only right if I speak up on behalf of the company/charity. Not just that, but also because I truly appreciate everything they do in a bid to fight for mental health.

MIND, if you're reading this, (or if you ever read this) I just want to say that I am a massive fan of what you do in your workforce. Whether these may consist of encouraging people to get a membership, volunteer or even create partnerships with work companies, you're doing a grand job with getting more people involved in fighting for mental health. That being said, you wouldn't be recognised for who you are, as well as what you do to this day if it hadn't been for any of those above things.

Let's also talk about your campaigning, as I can clearly see that you would happily go above & beyond to achieve. This also includes people happily going out of their way just so they can help you with the campaigning. This is obviously a inspirational success in a lot of people's eyes whenever they view these campaigning events on the media. Just a shame the government do not take this seriously...

On that note Charles, how come you didn't think to mention all of this in your speech last Tuesday? (7/11/23) I mean, it's not like this is a rocket science situation that will just fix on its own, this mental health crisis has to be dealt with by actually putting the mental health bill into action. Words cannot even begin to describe as to how shocked I am that this has been not been sorted out for the past 6 years now, and the UK government think it's okay for people's mental health to go unnoticed in this country?! 

All I can really say at this point, is that something HAS to be done in order for the UK government to put the mental health bill into action, and to ensure no one's mental health gets ignored. But until then...

Keep on fighting for mental health MIND.✊🏻💙