SEND, or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities covers people with a learning difficulty and/or a disability that means they need suitable help and support in their education. 

SEND children across Norwich and Norfolk are not getting the support they need. 

For these children to succeed, we need to build an inclusive education system where all children can thrive. 

I have been working closely with the SEND Reform England campaign. Run by parents of children with disabilities, they are fighting for a reform of the education system so that all children can experience an education that is suited to their needs.

These are some of the things I’ve been doing inside and outside of Parliament to ensure every child has the right to succeed.

January 2024

• In Parliament, I held a drop-in for MPs and Lords to show support for SEND reform. 
• At the drop-in, I hosted the SEND Reform campaign group, who told me what they thought reform of SEND education looked like. 
• Watch my video at the drop-in below.

October 2023

• ITV Anglia asked me what I thought needed to be done to fix the SEND provision crisis in Norfolk. In light of the cost of living crisis, I told ITV that to fix the breakdown of our social infrastructure, we need a wealth tax.
• Watch part of my interview with ITV Anglia below.

Later this month, I attended a protest alongside hundreds of parents outside Norwich City Hall, demanding that SEND education be reformed. 

• I told those at the protest that the decision from local and national governments not to adequately fund SEND provision was a political choice. 
• Watch my speech at the protest below. 

June 2023

• I joined the SEND Reform protest outside Parliament and spoke to parents about their experiences with the lack of SEND provision across the country.
• Watch my video from the SEND Reform rally below.

October 2021

• I gave a comment to the Norwich Evening News on the story of Acorn Park School- a failing SEND day and residential school for autistic children. 
• I told the NEN that the children and parents who use the school’s services are not alone and that the Government has starved SEND education and local authorities of funding, the whole system has been allowed to fail for years.  

April 2021

• I attended a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament about special educational needs.
• Among issues such as diagnosis waiting times, I also highlighted the need for the Government to fund an ambitious plan to help SEND children to catch up on the year of education they lost due to COVID-19. 
• Watch my intervention in the debate below.

September 2019

• With over 21,000 SEND children in Norfolk, many are still waiting for the necessary Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs), as well as appropriate school places. 
• That’s why I hosted a Westminster Hall debate on school funding in East Anglia. 
• Watch part of my speech in the debate below.

June 2019

• I joined the SEND crisis rally in Norwich, part of a series of events against the cuts to SEND funding.
• Many parents in my constituency had contacted me about the lack of provision for their children. Vulnerable children should not pay the price for cuts to funding.

September 2018

• I raised the concerns of headteachers in Parliament, raising the statistic that SEND children are 6 times more likely to be excluded than their peers.
• I asked Nadhim Zahawi, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, if he will commit to increasing funding support for SEND children. 
• Watch my intervention below.