Latest News for Parents & Carers

Children in England experience huge variations in having their special educational needs identified depending on school type, background and levels of absence, according to research by the Education Policy Institute (EPI).

A train carriage has been converted into a library for pupils at a special school, Ivy House in Derby. The library, which includes the carriage’s original chairs and outside is a departures board announcing Derby Railway Station’s live train information, was officially opened by Googlebox star Baasit Siddiqui.

An army veteran has become the first disabled person to ski solo to the South Pole. It took Jonny Huntington 46 days to cross more than 500 miles of Antarctic ice. The 38-year-old from Devon suffered a stroke in 2014, which initially left him paralysed from the neck down on his left side.

The local government and social care ombudsman (LGO), which handles complaints about English councils, upheld 1,043 cases regarding Send provision in 2024 – nearly 40% more than in 2023, and four times more than the 258 upheld in 2021.

Former patients at Scotland’s biggest children’s psychiatric hospital have spoken out about a culture of cruelty among nursing staff. Patients who were teenagers when they were admitted to Skye House, a specialist NHS unit in Glasgow, told BBC Disclosure some nurses called them “pathetic” and “disgusting” – and even mocked their suicide attempts.