Tag Archives: SEND
No cover-up over £12m SEND overspend, claims council chief
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Town Hall bosses have been forced to accept 23 recommendations from external accountants after IT problems saw them lose track of thousands of payments, in the latest council cock-up that was described by a veteran Tory councillor … Continue reading
12,500 Croydon children lifted out of poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit cap. But what about homelessness?
ANDREW FISHER pores over the fine detail in the Budget, including more income tax, lower energy bills and frozen rail fares, and highlights some of the important areas that were not addressed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves Just over a year … Continue reading
Free STEM workshop for children with autism, BLBG, Mar 29
Croydon families have a unique opportunity to participate in a free Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – STEM – workshop designed specifically for children with autism. Taking place on Saturday March 29 at the Hub Broad Green on Keeley Road, … Continue reading
Cash-strapped council has spent £6.4m… to make more cuts
CROYDON IN CRISIS: After cuts to services of £137m in four years and with this year’s council budget out of control, official figures show that the council is spending millions more to find out how to save money. EXCLUSIVE by … Continue reading
Bonfire Night for children with SEND, LFB Croydon, Nov 8
Council consultants take six months to discover the obvious
CROYDON IN CRISIS: It has taken external consultants almost six months to discover that the council’s website is ‘jargon-heavy’, ‘corporate’ and ‘difficult’ to use. Those findings have cost the cash-strapped council at least £1m. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES After being … Continue reading
Council’s controversial ‘interim’ children’s director set to leave
Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the search to replace a £800per day corporate director at Fisher’s Folly, just in time for the next, key inspection Debbie Jones, the council’s septuagenarian director of children’s services, is to stand down … Continue reading
Croydon Fire Station praised for its SEN inclusive open day
The town centre fire station staged a groundbreaking Special Educational Needs family open day, which attracted 700 children and their families over a sunny, summer’s day. The brainchild behind the event was Station Officer Daniel Foster, from Croydon Fire Station’s … Continue reading
Poor councils make bad situations worse says Ombudsman
People who have been treated poorly by their local council are all too often having their situations made worse when their council delays putting things right. That’s the view of the Local Government Ombudsman in her annual review of all … Continue reading
Council’s multi-million consultant deals to make more cuts
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff in Fisher’s Folly have already dubbed the plan ‘No Future Croydon’. After cuts of £100m from council budgets in four years, now the chief exec is forking out public money to find more ways of axing … Continue reading
75% Croydon teachers say SEND provision is getting worse
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Teaching provision for children with SEND – special educational needs and disabilities – continues to be a huge issue nationally and in Croydon, where many pupils across the borough haven’t got the placement required to meet their needs. … Continue reading
Surrey council fined £7,400 over failures for boy with SEND
Croydon is not the only local authority in trouble. Tory-run Surrey County Council has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman after a second investigation into its failures to properly support a young boy with special educational needs. The Ombudsman … Continue reading
SEND demand sees council education deficit grow to £22.5m
A report published today by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has discovered a £1.3bn ‘financial black hole at the centre of the special educational needs and disability system – and it is growing rapidly’ The deficit in Croydon Council’s DSG … Continue reading
Merton’s £50m education shortfall raises finance alarms
A south London council on the brink of financial collapse, getting a multi-million-pound bail-out from government, while being run by a new chief exec and with a rudderless Labour group where the leader isn’t standing for re-election in their old … Continue reading
Half of Sutton LibDem councillors quitting at May’s elections
Defending the indefensible, whether it is the dodgy deals over the council’s SDEN heat network, the appalling treatment of families with SEND children, or some of the ruling group’s more under-hand conduct, has taken its toll, writes our Civic Offices … Continue reading
£13m special school in New Addington has now opened
Addington Valley “Academy” (it’s really what used to be called a school) in Fieldway has celebrated its launch, the £13million building being officially opened 16 months after the school held its first lessons in temporary accommodation. Operated in partnership between … Continue reading
Child’s transplant delayed by council SEND decisions
As the Ofsted inspectors visit Fisher’s Folly this week, one family’s struggle to get the council to provide a decent standard of education for their son with SEND has forced them to write this open letter to the council leader … Continue reading
Midnight deadline to complete Ofsted’s SEND survey
By SARAH BOWELL It’s a big week for Croydon, and not just because of Thursday’s council governance referendum. For some families, the bigger news of this week is that Croydon’s SEND department is being visited for an Ofsted inspection. For … Continue reading
Minutes show plan to end services to 200 families in Sutton
EXCLUSIVE: Sutton Council has been criticised by a local MP for being ‘insensitive’ to parents of children with SEND, while an official complaint has been lodged over a senior LibDem councillor’s conduct. By our Sutton investigations editor, CARL SHILTON Confidential … Continue reading
‘Strong and stable’? Henderson is third to leave department
It was 2.43pm when the publish button was pressed yesterday at Inside Croydon Towers for our exclusive report of the imminent departure from the council of Rob Henderson, executive director of children, families and education. Two hours later, the council … Continue reading
SEND is ‘system in crisis’ according to Ombudsman report
Children with SEND – special educational needs and disabilities – are increasingly being failed by the system designed to support them. That’s according to no less an authority than the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. In its latest report … Continue reading
