We want the government to ban suspensions of primary school aged children with additional needs. We think suspensions can significantly impact a child’s progression and change needs to happen.

We believe that lack of funding for special educational needs and disabilities (“SEND”) is a national problem. We think that non-specialist primary schools are unable to provide adequate and suitable support to children with SEND, but lack of funding should not be a used as an excuse. We are concerned than when schools are “unable to handle” the needs of children with SEND, they choose to issue suspensions and other punitive measures, which we feel are ineffective and disproportionate. We believe that issuing suspensions to children with SEND, as young as 4, is disproportionate and discriminatory.