(UK) Kirklees: Shoe protest; 5,000 with SPED plan, 50% increase since 2019
- The end of childhood
- 12 minutes ago
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Nov 3, 2025, Yorkshire Live: Families in 'shoe protest' outside Kirklees Council offices over children 'ignored and dismissed'
Parents from across Kirklees will gather on Monday November 3 from 10.30am outside Kirklees Council's Civic Centre building to draw attention to the thousands of special educational needs children across the country who have not received the right support.
The gathering is part of the Every Pair Tells a Story campaign organised by The SEND Sanctuary UK in partnership with Let Us Learn Too and Let’s Make a Difference.
Pairs of children’s shoes will be displayed outside the Civic Centre to represent every child across England who has been "failed by the education system and their local authority," a spokesperson for The SEND Sanctuary said.
The spokesperson said: "This movement is not only for children missing from education. It stands for every child whose needs have been ignored, misunderstood or dismissed.
"It is for those isolated in classrooms without the right support, pushed into unsuitable mainstream schools, or waiting months and years for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) that are delayed, denied or disregarded.
"Every pair tells a story of exhaustion, heartbreak and families forced to fight for the very basics that every child deserves: education, inclusion and respect."
Kirklees, like many areas across England, continues to face serious challenges in providing adequate special educational needs and disabilities support.
According to The SEND Sanctuary, there are now over 5,000 children and young people in Kirklees with an EHCP, an increase of around 50 per cent since 2019.
Families report waiting 30 weeks or more for EHCP decisions, exceeding the 20-week legal timeframe.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission identified significant weaknesses in leadership, communication, and consistency of support across Kirklees, while local parents continue to raise concerns about the lack of specialist school places and the growing number of children unable to access full-time education.
These local challenges mirror the national SEND crisis, with more than 600,000 children in England identified as having special educational needs and over 70,000 waiting for EHCPs to be processed.
"These shoes tell the stories of children who want to learn, play and be included,” said Aimee Bradley, founder of The SEND Sanctuary UK.
"No child should be left behind because the system decided their needs were too complex or too inconvenient. This is about every child failed by broken promises and endless red tape."
More than 70 protests are taking place across the country.
Families are calling for urgent action and accountability from both local authorities and central government.
"The government must listen to parents," Aimee added.
"We are not the problem. We are the evidence of the problem. Our children deserve more than words. They deserve real change, and they deserve it now."
The shoes protest in Huddersfield is due to start at 10.30am and run until 1pm. The public are welcome to attend or donate a pair of children’s shoes to be displayed on the day.
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