As pupils across England begin to return to schools following almost six months of closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Anne Longfield has warned of risks facing those with SEND and in receipt of education health and care plans (EHCPs).
Despite some children with SEND and EHCPs being able to attend school during lockdown, just 18,000 were attending at the end of April, she said, highlighting that legislative changes via the Coronavirus Act also removed access to support services for some families.
“This was often because schools had to conduct ‘risk assessments’ before children could go in and many of these either did not happen or stated that the child would be safer at home. Some families also found that their usual access to special educational support and health services set out in their EHCP disappeared as the Coronavirus Act reduced this to a requirement on local agencies to make 'reasonable endeavours' to deliver these services,” Longfield said.
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