Nicole Dempsey

It seems like it’s human nature to polarise, but solutions with depth are unlikely to be either or when it comes to complex challenges. This isn’t about standards or support; it’s standards and support - there isn’t a child that isn’t entitled to both. Great, as always, @mrjlauder.bsky.social

Golden, as always. Bureaucratic barriers to common sense solutions are especially frustrating. It feels like a sensible but huge ask - how are the grassroots examples being shared across and up?

Tea with dad sounds lovely. I’m off to see a comedian and stay up way later than I should heading a very long early drive tomorrow morning!

Why don’t you just stop doing all that pesky paperwork?

Yep: I think the logical and achievable solutions that are apparent based on a superficial understanding of the system and the ones apparent based on a deeper understanding are not at all the same thing. This is how we end up with a lot of ‘why don’t you just…?’

I feel like I’ve said this to lots of people in lots of ways over the last couple of years! I know many others have too. I lose sleep over what might be on the horizon.

Exactly this. A SENCO saying they don’t have time to do the paperwork for an annual review or needs assessment, or the APDR process in their school, is like a plumber saying they don’t have time for pipes or a mechanic saying they don’t have time to look at engines.

The big one though is access to the services that support us. In this system or the next, timely access to EP, SALT, specialist teams, CAMHS, school nurses, counselling, need to be available at the earliest, most preventative point. To me, this alone would bring balance to the system.

There are things that, whatever change is on the horizon, need to be addressed either way. One is this issue of SEND understanding across leadership and SENCO line management. Another is the postcode lottery and another is how SEND and inclusion are represented in ITT/ECF/NPQ.

Well done Nicole Dempsey (is she on here?) ‘The Sendco role is certainly bureaucratic, but it is paperwork with purpose, and involves administrative tasks that require a high level of knowledge and expertise - for example, by knowing the child, the setting, the local landscape and the national

Only 6 per cent of Sendcos can complete their tasks in work hours The government’s SEND reforms must ensure that special educational needs coordinators get better support, say experts, as exclusive data reveals their ‘unsustainable’ workload

The exclusive findings in @johngroberts.bsky.social story make clear that, whatever comes out of the education white paper & broader inclusion push, it mustn't simply heap more tasks onto overworked sencos.

If there’s a possibility of reducing bureaucracy without losing important process then we should take it, of course. What really needs to happen though is for the knowledge, expertise and ownership to be distributed across more people, taking that single point of pressure off one person alone.

I worry when I hear talk of reducing SEND admin - there’s a lot for sure, but SENCOs aren’t drowning in a sea of paperwork that could just be ignored or given to someone else to do. That’s almost a bit insulting to assume, isn’t it?

I’m here!

A focus on teachers teaching, silos being broken down and lessons being made accessible are all key features of the Dixons approach. Read the case study in full here: inclusioninpractice.org.uk/wp-content/u... (2/3)

🔎 Friday Focus 🔍
This week we wanted to share more about Dixons Academies Trust's approach to inclusion. In this case study Nicole Dempsey @ndempseyinco14.bsky.social talks about how it is possible to avoid creating a segregated, two-tier teaching system if inclusion is everyone's business. (1/3)

I don’t have my own personal experience. I do think that, under this system or a future one (good or bad), for a child and their family and within each school, it will come down to the ownership, effort and implementation choices of the leadership there.

Better depth of understanding, better implemented systems, and so real soul searching and reflection I know can change the culture.

I don’t disagree. This is why I think reform needs to include training incorporating understanding ableism and bias, and I do think better clarity on best practice and what works would help - poor outcomes associated with SEND are due to poor practice related to SEND, not the children.

Inclusion isn’t a bolt-on. It’s the measure of whether our education system is working at all.

Classroom paramountcy - not classroom at all costs, but classroom first and foremost for every child. Being present, being known, being planned for as part of the main, and being able to contribute. No one is better off with any less than the best offer.

The importance of time, interaction, thinking and decision making in inclusion.

Banning lifejackets to reduce drownings. As the conversation around SEND reform continues, it increasingly feels like we are trying to solve problems by tackling symptoms and not causes; choosing the immediate over the impactful. We might not have time on our side, but the long game is the only game that will work - the current system is undeniably struggling, but reform must be built on honesty, insight, and a clear understanding of what will genuinely make things better for children, families, and the professionals who serve them.

Banning lifejackets to reduce drownings.

As the conversation around SEND reform continues, it increasingly feels like we are trying to solve problems by tackling symptoms and not causes; choosing the immediate over the impactful. We might not have time on our side, but the long game is the only…

Seems reasonable to me.

Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should On process, inclusion, and the cost of convenience In a world of accelerating automation, we must ask not just what technology can do for us, but what it might take away. Technology and the interne…

Process, inclusion, and the cost of convenience.

inco14.wordpress.com/2025/07/13/j...

Thread ⬇️
I cannot understand why the people in power consistently fail to understand that giving each and every child, including those with SEND, the very best start in life is literally an investment in the future. It benefits children, families, the NHS, the economy and society generally.

Absolutely this. Excellent thread. I’m not sure there is currently an understanding in government of the sheer diversity of needs and how provision needs to differ. The current discussion seems to assume that with the right adaptation/unit mainstream could work for all. It can’t.

Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should On process, inclusion, and the cost of convenience In a world of accelerating automation, we must ask not just what technology can do for us, but what it might take away. Technology and the interne…

Process, inclusion, and the cost of convenience.

inco14.wordpress.com/2025/07/13/j...

We did it for one set of reasons and found a whole load of additional reasons!

New CST discussion paper 'A new specialist narrative'.

Specialist provision is not a fiscal burden. It is a vital public asset. Our new discussion paper calls for a confident, collective vision that places special schools and alternative provision at the heart of an inclusive education system.

Read more: https://twp.ai/9PTMX4