Local SEND children facing two hour round trips for education- Norfolk MP
Data from Norfolk County Councils shows there's over 30 thousand children with SEND needs. 60% up on 2016's figures
A local MP tells us some children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) needs are facing over two hour round trips daily, to attend school.
Latest figures from County Hall show that one in five pupils in Norfolk now require additional support.
"We need these people, with these skills, to be able to go to work"
Terry Jermy represents South West Norfolk and says the problems don't stop there:
"One of the big impacts is on family incomes. Nearly always I'm coming across families where one or both parents are having to leave work entirely to look after their children.
"As they can't get them into a specialist school or the right school, they're having to leave work to care for their child at home.
"I have had so many conversations with parents who are just at their wits ends, in tears.
"They just want the best possible education for their children and more often than not, they are not getting the right education for them and they're trying everything they possibly can to get that support, which is often not there.
"I recently met with a guy who was a senior person at RAF Marham, who not be deployable to other countries because he needed to be here to look after his family- which is obviously the right thing for him to do.
"However, from an employment point of view we need these people, with these skills, to be able to go to work.
Latest available data on SEND in Norfolk:
-There are now 30,132 children and young people aged 0-25 identified with SEND. That's a more than 60% increase since 2016
-12,100 children and young people have EHCPs (up 177% since 2016 with the highest concentration in ages 11-15)
-18,000 children and young people are receiving SEN Support (up from 14,200 in 2016)
-Number of pre-school children flagged through the Early Identification of Need (EIN) process has nearly tripled since 2017, rising from 114 to 327 in 2024.
-This means one in five pupils in Norfolk schools now require additional support
-Norfolk's EHCP rate exceeds national and regional average
-Norfolk has a high prevalence of children and young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs and a rising number of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), especially in younger children.