Across the country, parents continue to battle an education system that too often fails to meet its legal obligations:
· More than 600,000 children in England have identified special educational needs.
· Over 70,000 are waiting for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to be processed.
· Thousands more have been left without any school place at all.
These figures represent real children, real families, and real heartbreak. Many parents have been forced to give up their jobs to educate their children at home after years of fighting for help that never came.
‘This is not just about missing education,’ said Aimee Bradley, founder of The SEND Sanctuary UK. ‘It is about the loss of childhoods, opportunities and hope. Every pair of shoes is a child’s story, and together they form a message too powerful to ignore. We are standing for every child who has been left behind.’
As the government prepares to roll out its SEND and Alternative Provision reforms, parents are making it clear that they will not be silenced. They are demanding genuine change that listens to families, ends the postcode lottery in provision, and restores trust in a system that has been failing children for too long.
‘The government must listen to parents,’ Aimee continued. ‘We are not the problem. We are the evidence of the problem. Our children deserve more than words. They deserve action, fairness and a future.’
The SEND Sanctuary UK is a national parent-led organisation representing over 35,000 families. It provides support, advocacy and campaigning for accountability and inclusion for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Image courtesy of SEND Sanctuary UK.
