{"id":245828,"date":"2026-04-30T23:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=245828"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:10:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:10:04","slug":"send-lenehan-pupils-lablled-early-when-behaviour-could-be-poverty-driven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/send-lenehan-pupils-lablled-early-when-behaviour-could-be-poverty-driven\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenehan: Pupils labelled &#8216;early&#8217; when needs could be poverty-driven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some children are being labelled with special needs \u201cearly\u201d when their needs could be driven by experiences of poverty, the government\u2019s strategic SEND adviser has suggested.<\/p>\n<p>Christine Lenehan told the\u00a0National Network of Special Schools in Liverpool how government is \u201cworried\u201d the current system is \u201cnot good at understanding\u201d poverty and deprivation, as well as how culture and race interact with disability.<\/p>\n<p>Lenehan said she had thought it was an \u201curban myth\u201d that children arrive at school not knowing how to use a book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went into a special school not long ago and watched them try to swipe a book to get it to move. So in terms of the stuff we\u2019ve got behind us, we are labelling some children early, when actually we are not understanding poverty, deprivation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She also told delegates the Department for Education are \u201ctrying to do something about race and culture\u201d but did not explicitly say whether this was research or guidance.<\/p>\n<p>Lenehan said disability and cultural identity \u201care really strong factors in how communities live and what communities do, both in terms of always representing children\u2019s families and displaying communities across behaviours\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Really poor evidence base&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>She also suggested that many children, such as those fleeing war-torn countries, were displaying needs based on \u201ctrauma\u201d from these experiences.<\/p>\n<p>While Lenehan did not say how the DfE were looking at intersectionality and SEND, she said it currently has \u201ca really, really poor evidence base\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Lenehan has <a href=\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/schools-at-the-heart-of-send-reforms-says-adviser\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previously said<\/a> how she heard regional differences during the DfE&#8217;s national &#8220;listening&#8221; SEND conversation.<\/p>\n<p>She said earlier this year: &#8220;One of the really strong feels in Leeds was the stuff around vulnerable children from socio-economically difficult backgrounds, the whole stuff about [pupils who were] previously known to social care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a whole school thing, it\u2019s not a SEND thing anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kiran Gill, chief executive at charity The Difference, told<em> Schools Week<\/em> how &#8220;listening campaigns&#8221; are key to &#8220;get under the hood&#8221; of pupils&#8217; specific challenges.<\/p>\n<p><span data-teams=\"true\">It helps to understand &#8220;how their identities and needs are playing out in the context of the teaching and learning strategies and peer group. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-teams=\"true\">&#8220;For instance, I remember one school we worked with looked at the data point of children leaving lessons. They realised looking at identify and need markers, that children with ADHD and autism were much more likely [to leave], and then on hearing their experiences, realised &#8216;cold calling&#8217; was causing a lot of anxiety.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span data-teams=\"true\">An edit to practice saw those children given a discreet question from the teacher and return when they were ready,&#8221; she said, which @gave them the same learning as everyone else but without the anxiety&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Admin support to free up SENCOs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, extra administrative support in schools could help free up special educational needs co-ordinator\u2019s time so they can be more \u201cstrategic\u201d, the schools minister has said.<\/p>\n<p>In its schools white paper reforms, the government hopes the school SENCO role will focus on \u201cstrategic leadership\u201d and developing \u201chigh quality practice\u201d, making it less administrative.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, new digital processes and improving access to specialist support could reduce routine admin.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_244874\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-244874\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-244874 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Georgia-Gould-not-smiling-inset-1920px-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-244874\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Schools minister, Georgia Gould<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Georgia Gould, schools minister, told a webinar on the SEND reforms this week how SENCOs felt they needed to \u201cget their fighting gloves and go and fight for support for children\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy building a system that hopefully gives more resource and agency to schools to respond to need, [it] reduces some of that bureaucracy and form filling that SENCOs have to do in all these different contexts,\u201d Gould said.<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cThere\u2019s something about how we set out the responsibility for the whole school to support inclusion so it doesn\u2019t all just sit on the SENCO but it\u2019s something that everyone has a role in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we hopefully put more resource in, some schools might choose to put some more administrative support in in order to free up the SENCO to take that coordinated strategic role.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>MPs \u2018concerned\u2019 on report delay \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It comes as MPs <a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/publications\/52958\/documents\/295298\/default\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demanded answers<\/a> on why it has taken government seven months to respond to its 95-recommendation SEND inquiry report. Usually, government responds in two months.<\/p>\n<p>The education committee had previous accepted the DfE\u2019s explanation of a short, interim response before the white paper was published in February.<\/p>\n<p>But Helen Hayes, the committee chair, said in a letter to education secretary Bridget Phillipson she was \u201cconcerned at the long delay\u201d for the full response.<\/p>\n<p>She said \u201cit should not be the case that the timing of a response is dictated by the convenience of the government\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Hayes <a href=\"https:\/\/committees.parliament.uk\/publications\/52952\/documents\/295299\/default\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">also posed<\/a> a series of pressing questions to Gould on the SEND reform proposals.<\/p>\n<p>She warned the DfE if it didn&#8217;t have \u201cbroader expert input\u201d such as special and language therapists when creating the new national inclusion standards, there \u201cis a risk that the new reforms could replicate existing shortcomings within the SEND system\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>Schools can&#8217;t manage complaints<\/h2>\n<p>Gould was also warned many schools may \u201clack the capacity\u201d to manage complaints relating to the proposed individual support plans for pupils with SEND.<\/p>\n<p>The committee had recommended powers for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to cover complaints relating to the delivery of education, health and care plans, SEN support and inclusive education across schools, trusts and other settings.<\/p>\n<p>But government did not include this in its white paper.<\/p>\n<p>Hayes said: \u201cThe committee heard clear support for this recommendation during the one-off evidence session and we strongly urge the department to reconsider this as an important means of strengthening accountability within the reformed SEND system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The DfE was approached for comment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government SEND adviser worried the current system doesn&amp;amp;amp;#039;t understand poverty and deprivation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311127,"featured_media":245836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[263],"post-theme":[2354],"class_list":["post-245828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-inclusion","post-theme-inclusion"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 4.9.6.2 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some children are being labelled with SEND &#039;early&#039; when their needs could be driven by experiences of poverty, a government adviser has suggested\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Booth\"\/>\n\t<meta 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