Parents and carers may be aware that we have a strong reputation in the local area for supporting students with Special Educational Needs but due to this reputation, a disproportionate number of students with Special Educational Needs have been placed at Bushey Meads School, making it much more difficult to meet these students’ additional needs as we are over capacity. This has been exacerbated by recent judgements in Hertfordshire about the inadequate landscape for children with SEND.

The message from Hertfordshire County Council is very clear on this issue. All mainstream schools in the local area offer the same level of support as Bushey Meads through Quality First Teaching and reasonable adjustments, and local schools with a much lower percentage of students with Special Educational Needs have a far greater capacity to meet needs than we do. The nearest mainstream school for any parent can provide exactly the same offer as Bushey Meads but, due to having lower numbers, will be much more easily able to support the children and give them the attention they need.

We do have a Specialist Resource Provision for speech and language and communication at Bushey Meads but the places in that provision are only accessed through a completely different and separate SEN panel with very challenging admission criteria. No child admitted through the usual admission procedures can access that provision. Our SRP is also now full.

I would like to thank all the staff at Bushey Meads and especially the staff in the Learning Support Faculty for the wonderful work that they do to support all the children at Bushey Meads. In a time of challenges and much reduced funding the pressure on schools is immense and you all continue to have a very positive impact on the lives of many children in our care.