Across the country, SEND families are watching something deeply worrying unfold — and most people outside this community have absolutely no idea it’s happening.
A BBC report revealed that Oxfordshire is now moving increasing numbers of SEND children back into mainstream schools, not because the provision is appropriate…
but because specialist settings are full and the council can’t afford more places.
They are calling this “inclusion.”
But parents know exactly what this is:
Cost-cutting dressed up as progress.
And it immediately rings alarm bells, because many of us have lived it.
For years, councils have quietly tried to move children out of specialist placements — even when those placements were life-changing — and push them back into the very environments that broke them in the first place.
And yes…
It might explain why they tried to push Joshua back into mainstream too.
Not because it was right for him.
Not because it was safe.
But because the system is now under so much pressure that children are being moved like pieces on a spreadsheet instead of human beings with needs.
The “Inclusion” They’re Talking About Isn’t Real Inclusion
Real inclusion means:
- trained staff
- sensory adaptations
- trauma-informed practice
- smaller classes
- emotional support
- reduced overwhelm
- stable routines
- predictable environments
None of that is being put in place.
What Oxfordshire is proposing — and what many other LAs are quietly planning — is simply moving neurodivergent children into mainstream buildings and hoping they cope.
That isn’t inclusion.
It’s abandonment with a positive label.
And every SEND parent knows what this leads to:
- EBSA
- school refusal
- meltdowns
- anxiety
- broken self-esteem
- exclusions
- “behaviour” labels
- trauma
- parents blamed
- families punished
- children lost in the system
This is not new…
But the volume is increasing.
The SEN-Between Children Are at the Highest Risk
These are the children the government never talks about:
Too complex for mainstream.
Not “severe enough” for traditional specialist schools.
Stuck in the middle.
Invisible.
The SEN-between children.
The ones who mask.
The ones who meltdown at home.
The ones school say “cope fine” because they don’t understand distress.
The ones who deteriorate fastest when the environment isn’t right.
They are the children most likely to be forced back into mainstream under these new policies.
And they are the ones who get hurt first.
Why Joshua Got Caught in This Wave
When the LA argued that Joshua could attend a mainstream school — even when he clearly couldn’t — it wasn’t based on his actual needs.
It was based on:
- capacity issues
- budget pressures
- a shortage of specialist places
- policies pushing for reintegration
- the belief that “mainstream is the default”
This is happening everywhere.
Parents are made to feel like they’re asking for something excessive when they request the only provision that will actually keep their child safe.
But families see the truth:
It’s not about inclusion.
It’s about numbers.
Where This Leaves Parents
This is the part that hurts the most:
SEND parents are being made to feel guilty, dramatic, or “difficult” for refusing placements that are clearly unsafe.
But here’s the reality:
- You are not imagining it.
- You are not overreacting.
- You are not obstructive.
- You are protecting your child from harm.
Because the government’s version of “inclusion” does not match the lived experience of neurodivergent children.
And unless the Prime Minister and local authorities start listening to parents — the real experts — thousands of children will be pushed back into environments that will traumatically fail them.
What Needs to Change
If the government is serious about inclusion, this is what real reform looks like:
1. Specialist training for every teacher.
You cannot include children successfully if the staff have not been trained to support them.
2. Smaller classes — not larger ones.
Overwhelmed teachers cannot meet complex needs.
3. Trauma-informed environments across all schools.
4. Real sensory adaptations — not lip service.
5. Proper funding for the schools that are already drowning.
6. More specialist places — not fewer.
7. Respect for parental expertise.
Parents know when mainstream will break their child.
They must not be ignored.
For Joshua, and Every Other SEN-Between Child
Parents like us are not difficult.
We are not obstructive.
We are not “holding our children back.”
We are doing what the system sometimes refuses to do:
Keeping our children safe.
And if this is the direction national SEND policy is heading, then now is the moment parents need to speak up louder than ever before.
Our children do not have the luxury of waiting for change.
Their mental health, future, and identity depend on the decisions made today.
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