Welcome from our Chief Executive
SOS!SEN has been supporting families and carers of children and young people with SEND for more than 20 years, to understand their entitlements to special educational provision, and to help them secure it!
I’m delighted to be part of the team here at SOS!SEN as it celebrates its 21st birthday this year.
I’m very excited to be working with a dedicated and committed team, including our volunteers, who have a earned a strong reputation for supporting the families that come to us. We would not be able to do what we do without them.
Never has the need to support families been greater. Not only has SEND provision suffered from government cut backs, but the demand for EHC needs assessments and numbers of EHCP has grown year on year. We are seeing early signs that the Department of Education is seeking to reduce the amount of EHCPs which is concerning.
The Covid pandemic presented enormous challenges for our SEND families. Schools were closed, and the support and therapies so vital for children and young people to meet their needs were for the most part unavailable. Many processes for securing provision were temporarily affected.
It also was a challenging time for the charity as the fundraising we rely on, and services we typically offer face-to-face, were of course impacted.
With Covid hopefully behind us, most of our face-to-face services are now once again available. We’ve harnessed technology more readily during the pandemic and our online webinars remain very popular and a great way to reach more people.
The Government’s Green Paper in March 2022 brings fresh concerns about what lies ahead for our children and young people with SEND. We watch with great interest the developments following the public consultation and are actively contributing wherever possible to try to shape what comes next.
We love hearing from our SEND families, children and young people as they experience success and take important steps forward in their education. It makes what we do even more worthwhile.
Do get in touch. There’s a lot of different ways we can help and guide you.
Richard Orchard-Rowe