One of the things I hear most often from parents across West Cumbria is how difficult it can be to get the right support for a child with special educational needs and disabilities.
Families tell me about long waits, confusing processes and feeling like they have to fight every step of the way. That’s not how it should be.
Every child deserves the opportunity to attend a great local school where they feel included, where they can learn alongside their friends and where the support they need is available when they need it.
That’s why I’m pleased that Cumberland has been awarded more than £2.1 million through the new Inclusive Mainstream Fund to help schools become more inclusive for children with special needs and disabilities.
The funding can be used to improve classrooms, create quieter learning spaces, develop specialist inclusion bases and make practical changes that help children with a wider range of needs thrive in mainstream education.
But securing funding is only the first step.
My priority now is making sure schools across West Cumbria receive their fair share of that investment.
Too often, announcements are made nationally and communities like ours are left wondering whether they’ll actually see the benefit. I want to make sure that doesn’t happen here.
I’m working closely with school leaders to make the case to Cumberland Council for investment across West Cumbria, because our children deserve exactly the same opportunities as those anywhere else in the country.
This builds on the wider work already underway to improve SEND support. Earlier this year Cumberland received £4.2 million to create more specialist SEND places, while the new Experts at Hand service will help schools access educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and other specialists much more quickly. These are being rolled out in the new school year.
Together, these changes are about bringing more expertise into mainstream schools so children can stay closer to home wherever possible, rather than families feeling they have no option but to travel further afield for the support they need.
As both your local MP and Minister for Children and Families, I know there is still much more to do.
Rebuilding confidence in the SEND system won’t happen overnight, and many families are understandably frustrated after years of feeling that the system wasn’t working for them. But I also know that real progress comes from making sure national investment translates into better experiences for local families. That’s what I’ll continue to focus on.
This SEND investment comes on top of the rollout of more universal free breakfast clubs – now in 17 west Cumbrian schools – and the expansion of free school meals, available to another 2,100 children in north and west Cumbria this September.
Every child in West Cumbria deserves to feel that they belong at school and every parent deserves confidence that support will be there when it’s needed.
Josh MacAlister MP 