SEND Reform: Can Every Child Truly Thrive?

Send us Fan MailSpecial Guest: - Matt Brewin, Primary School Teacher in Haywards Heath and Chair of Mid Sussex Green Party - Paul Taylor-Burr, Community Volunteer and Parent of two children with ASD/ADHD  Roundtable Featuring: Abigail Chapman-Miller (Labour), Iqbal Khan (Tess' Kitchen) & James Tidy (Reform UK). Host: Clive Hilton. The SEND system was built to protect vulnerable children, so why do so many parents across Sussex & Surrey describe it as a fight for basic understanding? We bring together a primary school teacher, councillors and parents with lived experience of ADHD and autism to talk plainly about what is happening on the ground: long waits, overstretched schools, and an EHCP process that can feel like a second full-time job.We break down the jargon so you can follow the real choices families face: SEND, EHCNAs, EHCPs, ISP/ILPs, and the proposed move towards Individual Support Plans in the 2026 SEND white paper. From the classroom, we hear how inclusion is meant to work and why it so often collapses under funding gaps, fewer teaching assistants and rising need. We also get into the uncomfortable questions people avoid, including whether diagnosis is being underused or overused, what labels do to a child’s confidence, and how to make “reasonable adjustments” without leaving children unprepared for the real world.The conversation goes beyond paperwork into what a fair education system should value. Are league tables and Ofsted driving better outcomes, or driving burnout and pushing schools away from flexibility? What would it take to make mainstream education genuinely accessible, and when is specialist provision the right answer? We finish with practical reflections for parents about coping, advocacy, and why some families feel pushed towards home education.If you care about SEND reform, UK education policy, neurodiversity, EHCP funding, and what schools in Sussex & Surrey need to actually deliver support, this one is for you. Subscribe for more local, balanced conversations, share this with a parent or teacher who needs it, and leave us a review with your take: what should change first?Please click on 'Send a text' above & join our Facebook group to share your perspective and suggestions for future topics - Thank you for your interest! Clive.