A parent and teacher’s journey with EHCP

(Names have been changed)

Meet George. He is a secondary school English teacher working in a hospital school. Being in a hospital school means he sees a lot of EHCP plans for students, so he was quite familiar with the teacher’s side of the process. But then his daughter, Kelly, began to show signs of needing extra support in education.

“My daughter began to show the need for an EHCP from Year 9. She became a school refuser after the COVID19 lock downs” From lockdown, Kelly’s struggles within education became a barrier to her learning. “She then struggled to go back to school. As a consequence, she finished Year 11 with no GCSES as she did not sit them”.

George and his family hoped a new start would help Kelly re-engage with her education.

“We hoped that attending college and a fresh start would make a difference to our child’s attendance. However, due to her neurodiversity needs, college became overwhelming for her and she stopped attending”.

Suddenly, George found himself on the other side of the application process.

“She tried again the following year and failed. It was then we agreed with the college that if our child was to reach her full potential and achieve the academic success that she clearly demonstrated, she would need an EHCP”.

Surely a teacher would know exactly what to do for an EHCP? An easy process, right? As George discovered, when you stop being the teacher and become the parent of a SEND student, all your professional experience cannot prepare you for the journey you and your family are going through.

“As a family, it was very distressing because the anxiety of college would completely drain our child of energy, joy and happiness. She would spend large amounts of time asleep. As a parent, I felt helpless in that I knew she needed further support but was unsure as to what type of help she needed.”

George now has a foot in two camps: going to work and supporting many students who are going through, or already have, an EHCP, seeing first-hand the impact of having one in place, and then going home and seeing the impact that incorrect or insufficient support has on a young person and the wider family.

Many people believe the impact of the EHCP process falls mainly on adults, but as George explains, the long and drawn-out process affected Kelly just as much, if not more.

“At the beginning of the process, our daughter was rather ambivalent about the EHCP. She was not sure how it would help. She helped and was incredibly brave and honest during the EHCP process.”

Kelly now has her EHCP in place for sixth form college, which has had a significant impact on how she views her education.

“Our EHCP has now been finalised. Our daughter is attending an online school. It’s early days but we are all hopeful that it will be a success. I think she is happy that she now has one in place. I really do think she now empowered with the knowledge that her voice will be heard and her needs met. This was lacking before the EHCP.”

This has also changed how George feels as a parent:

“I think the effect it has on me is one of reassurance that my daughter’s needs are now acknowledged and the help and support she needs will be given in order to ensure her academic success.”

Teachers often feel both passion and frustration when supporting a student through an EHCP application. When you add the emotional weight of being a parent to that same process, it can be exhausting. Pages of forms, professional reports, and countless deadlines, but why do all this? Why spend weeks or months pursuing an EHCP?

The answer is simple: support, acknowledgement and a voice being heard.

They often say it takes a village to raise a child. An EHCP is one way of ensuring that everyone in a child’s village, school, professionals and family, understands how best to support a SEND child so they can achieve their full potential and see a future for themselves.