(UK) Dorchester: Headteacher calls for more help for SPED students

Nov 17, 2018, Dorset Echo: Dorchester headteacher calls for better SEN funding as school featured in Parliamentary Review https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/17230125.dorchester-headteacher-calls-for-better-sen-funding-as-school-featured-in-parliamentary-review/ Dorchester Middle School (DMS) has been featured in the latest Parliamentary Review. Headteacher, Caroline Dearden said it was an 'enormous privilege' to be included in the review. Miss Dearden penned an article in the review which highlighted the dwindling funding for pupils with SEN. "As a headteacher, it doesn't happen very often to very many people. I thought, with an opportunity like this, I really wanted to represent the children who I say are doubly disadvantaged," she said. "Not only do they have significant educational needs which need to be overcome but then to have funding cuts which make it more and more challenging for schools to provide the support they need." …. "Funding pressures will mean less support for pupils who have additional learning needs. The job of supporting pupils who require specialist one-to-one support in an overpopulated classroom will be almost impossible. Furthermore, as funding is no longer ring-fenced for children with special educational needs many may not get their full entitlement and the future life chances for pupils with physical disabilities or other additional needs may be diminished." ….