PARENTS have said they feel ‘vindicated’ and ‘relieved’ by the publication of a ‘heartbreaking’ report into the quality of education provided in government schools for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.
The independent review, carried out by UK experts with extensive SEND experience, is a highly critical assessment of inclusive education in Jersey.
The review concluded that “the current leadership, organisation, systems, strategies, oversight and accountability arrangements are not sufficiently effective”.
It found “inconsistencies in experiences and outcomes”, “insufficient transparency” over funding, an “absence of coherent and coordinated strategy”, and a “lack of clear leadership and management, coupled with changes in priorities at the highest level, [which] have resulted in an enduring sense of turbulence and uncertainty.
It also identified that “there is no commonly understood strategy and stakeholders are widely concerned about the adequacy of provision” and that “central leadership has not secured commitment to a common vision, a sense of shared responsibility, ambition or possibility.”
Responding to the latest review, one parent, who has a child with special educational needs, said that the publication identified failings which he and other parents had been “highlighting for years”.
Andrew Wright said: “My concerns – and those of other parents I have spoken to – clearly demonstrate an overall picture of incompetence. There has been a systematic indifference to SEND children. But it’s more than indifference: it is borderline contempt.
“I have parents contacting me to share some horrendous situations that are, quite frankly, 90% of the time unlawful. One parent’s child has been out of school for years, not just weeks or months but years, because CYPES isn’t doing enough to support them.”
He added: “There is systemic rot within that department. Every single significant failing identified within this review: weak leadership, incoherent strategy, inadequate accountability, significant inequity in provision, weaknesses in the Records of Needs, levels of mistrust, and lack of transparency in funding are the very issues, by and large, that I, and many other parents, have been highlighting to the department for years.
“This is not a matter of hindsight. It is a matter of foresight ignored.
“Unfortunately this damning report shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody, least of all SEND parents. I think the best word for this report is ‘validation’: it has validated what everyone has been saying for so long.”
He added that he believed ongoing intervention by UK experts was needed to ensure changes are made.
“If you take CYPES’s inertia around the nasen report in 2021 into account, and the fact they quite clearly haven’t done anything, they can’t be allowed to be left unsupervised to do all of this urgent work,” he said.
Asked if he had felt that that the department had been on his side but had just faced too many obstacles, Mr Wright replied: “No, I’m afraid not: this has been such as adversarial process.
“You try and be nice and try and be collaborative, but you soon realise that being nice doesn’t get you anywhere, because you get walked over and your boundaries become disrespected.
“You then enter a bureaucratic nightmare. No one wants to be the parent making a stand; you just want to be able to turn around to the services and say: ‘this is what my child needs, this is what the law says, can we do this?’
“The problems are systemic, but equally, there were some blockers in the process, and since they’ve gone, things have definitely improved.”
Mr Wright added: “This SEND report is not just a mirror held up to CYPES; it is a vindication of what parents like myself have been saying – consistently, clearly, and lawfully.
“The Education Minister now faces a choice – to double down on misplaced ‘confidence’ in a team that has already squandered years of potential, or to acknowledge the need for robust external monitoring, genuine co-production, and urgent legal compliance.”
Another parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said the report was both “heartbreaking and a relief”.
“It confirms what I’ve known for some time, that my child’s experience being failed by their Jersey secondary school is not unique. The review lays bare a systemic pattern of failure across the Island’s education system, and my case is not isolated,” the parent said.
“My child was repeatedly excluded, misunderstood, and pushed towards functional segregation rather than supported with proper inclusion. Despite clear national and international guidelines on their condition, the professionals involved showed little understanding and even less willingness to read, train and adapt.
The parent added: “I was made to feel like the problem for asking questions. But this report confirms that many parents of SEND children feel unheard, isolated, and let down by a system that has lost sight of its legal and moral responsibilities.
“The report identifies that ‘structures relating to inclusion need reform’ and confirms what so many parents have experienced firsthand. There has been a lack of collaborative working and co-production across departments, schools and with individual families.
“It also reveals a damning culture of blaming and isolating families instead of meeting children’s needs, warning that ‘some schools report a culture of giving too much priority to adult-led complaints rather than pupil provision’.
“This mirrors my experience exactly, where the school leadership focused more on defending themselves than supporting my child. It occurs so often it has been given a name. It’s called ‘Parent Blame’.
The parent continued: “One of the most concerning findings is that ‘too few disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils have had their full range of needs met’, and that the ‘Record of Need system is inconsistent, weak, and under strain.’
“My child’s needs were clear, documented, and known, but that didn’t stop staff from repeatedly failing to put support in place.
“It also shines a spotlight on the worrying trend of pushing children out of mainstream education, stating that ‘a significant minority of parents reported feeling that the mainstream education system is outdated and often unwelcoming for children with SEND’, and that some reported their child was ‘moved from mainstream schools if they ‘don’t fit in’.
“That line could have been written about my child and their constant removal from or access to mainstream lessons in favour of isolated, segregated learning, by an unqualified Teaching Assistant.
“Finally, the review makes it clear that despite funding being available, it has not been used effectively. It notes ‘minimal support from CYPES for SEND’, and that ‘some funded well-being pots have not been effectively utilised.’ In other words, children are suffering while money sits unspent, and systems stall in endless review.
“What this report confirms is that the failure isn’t just about one school, or one headteacher, or one decision; it’s cultural, it’s strategic, and it’s deeply embedded in how Jersey treats disabled children.
“That is discrimination.”
What the report said
The reviewers found some “expert staff” in both the central team at Children, Young People, Education and Skills department and schools but added that their expertise is not fully utilised.
It also concluded that schools offered “safe environments, high levels of care and a will to meet pupils’ needs”.
However, it added: “While this demonstrates ambition and positive attitudes towards inclusion, it further reinforces how attitudes to inclusion, inclusive practices and adaptive teaching are widely inconsistent across the Government-provided schools.”
Highlighting “the many areas of strength” in the review, Education Minister Rob Ward said that it was “a pivotal moment in our journey toward a more inclusive, equitable, and responsive education system for all children and young people in Jersey.”
The review was a follow-up on another independent study carried out in December 2021 by the National Association for Special Educational Needs, or ‘nasen’ for short. The latest publication found that, four years on, the nasen recommendations had “not yet been responded to effectively”.
Today’s report concluded: “Considering the fact that the nasen review recommendations have not yet become embedded, and the scale of the tasks ahead, leaders should consider including a programme of ongoing support and monitoring visits by external experts to support, validate and challenge the progress being made towards their published plans.”
