ARU Final Report

16 Young people with disabilities’ experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic with adjustments such as a different timetable, short periods at home, or being in bubble groups, which they found helpful: [Young person] receives one-to-one lessons in a full range of subjects. This has continued entirely as normal throughout the pandemic as face to face, one-to-one lessons. She really enjoys this and is happy that it continued throughout. I am in a student bubble with other day students but am pleased that I have been able to stay with my class teacher and LSA’s throughout. My school day starts 30 minutes later during the pandemic at 9:30 so my timetable is a little different it continues to include my Physio programme in the mornings then onto my curriculum. I have been going to school every day. I did lessons online when I was in respite when my Mummy was unwell. Yes, I am now on a study programme with a local training provider. I like this as I’ve been able to go in still, twice per week. Some young people were particularly happy with this approach as it meant their classes were smaller or one-to-one, so they were able to get the support they needed: I am enjoying my course at present because it is one-to-one and I think they understand my needs. I enjoy the learning I am doing at present. I like that I can still go into the classes in centre. I like their approach as the classes are small and I find it much more tailored to what I need. There is more of an individual approach, rather than teaching a big class. It’s more like one-to-one tuition, which I like and works much better for me. However, risk assessments have been identified in The Children’s Commissioner report as a barrier to attendance for some. These were to be conducted by schools, along with parents, to decide whether a child or young person with an EHCP would be safer at school or at home. However, in a survey of more than 1,000 parents of children with SEND, 75 per cent reported that the risk assessment either did not take place or they were not sure if it had taken place and were therefore not involved (Special Needs Jungle, 2020). Changes in the rights and provision for children and young people with EHCPs has been identified as a further barrier. In May 2020, the Coronavirus Act stated that councils and local health bodies only needed to make “reasonable endeavours” to provide the services set out in EHCPs which are usually considered an absolute entitlement; this change was only reversed in August 2020. Almost a third of parents said that this influenced their decision to keep their child or young person with SEND at home, with many stating that they would not be safe in school without the provision set out in their EHCP (Special Needs Jungle, 2020). This was evident in the current research: School staff were able to send me work home in first lockdown, as school although open, mum and dad took the decision forme to stayat home. Mum and dad then looked at me returning to school towards the end of June 2020 as things changed. In addition, some young people were anxious about attending education face-to-face: The pandemic has affected me because my course was still happening in person in September 2020 as it was an electrical practical course, but I felt very anxious about mixing with people during Covid and it meant that I didn’t attend my course which I was disappointed about as it could not be done online… I have support from Leaving Care and with my EHCP who are looking into me doing NISAI which will be online as I don’t feel comfortable going into education in person at the moment.