A group of parents of children with Special Educational Needs/Disabilities on the Island are raising money to provide resource packs around understanding and supporting kids with SEND to every school on the Isle of Wight.
The packs will include:
- an open letter
- books that have changed our way of supporting our children and contain valuable information to help school staff better support our children
- visuals that explain complex behaviours simply
- some sweet treats for our amazing teachers
- a list of further recommended resources from the SEND community – things we wish all school staff knew..
The group have already raised £430 of a £1,550 target in just 2 days. They have already had some amazingly generous donations of prizes from local businesses, including a cake from a local cakery, a haircut at a local salon and a family photoshoot with a local photographer.
Colleen Brannon from Isle of Wight SEN Support says:
“We feel like this could be a small way of making a big impact on a circumstance that for many of us, often seems disempowering and hopeless.
“We also have some hope that it might start conversations and open doors for a more collaborative approach to education between professionals and the send community. Each parcel will be delivered to each Island school by a family with children at that school.
“We’re asking for £££ to buy the books, and would be incredibly grateful for any help offered.”
Anyone wishing to support this initiative can do so on their GoFundMe page or visit the Isle of Wight SEN Support Facebook page.






























































































As the parents of SEN children receive more than adequate disability payments for providing us all with such a child, surely they can and should pay their way themselves.
SEN children for the majority will be a costly burden for society to try to educate, and whilst deeply unfortunate for those children, their inability to cope with everyday tasks require all the schools to spend even more of our over stretched taxes on making each room and building safe for overly cumbersome and slow minded children.
Many only need a basic education programme which could be achieved from Net learning in their Government costly funded own homes.
Cake and eat it, whilst never paying back into society imo.
Not so many years ago, such would have been usefully employed throwing stones at Pidgeon and Rooks eating the crops.
Now want even more money spent on them than normal children who can work and pay their way in life.
Belt tightening in these days should be started with those who will take the most, and never give back to the Government coffers.
Not their fault, but certainly not my fault either, so why should my taxes go up on nere do wells?
Agree, we have an ever increasing amount of ‘takers’ now in our society, leeches floating here we have to provide everything for and keep, alcoholics, and those taken drugs, who are messed up in the head by doing so, and now more and more children are born with mental issues from parents who are selfish and indulge in drugs and drink when the unwanted child was conceived and carried.
Of course nature creates flawed dna as well, but with drugs many more children are being born with defects adding to the burden on the crumbling NHS and social security system as the parents of these unfortunate innocent takers are given overly generous funding, so why should others now fund them even more?
We ought to be spending on future talent
yes and you will of course have noted that those with disabilities are hypocrites, as they demand to be treated equally, however, expect to be treated differently on the price of things, such as travel tickets.
they demand to be treated the same as able bodied people and have staff at travel hubs provide them with accessibility aids and assistance, yet expect a discount on the ticket price.
they should be made to pay the same price as an able bodied traveller – after all, that is equality
It’s so sad that the comments are so nasty!! As the parent of a child who requires SEN support It’s horrifying that the comments are so selfish and short sighted. My child is incredibly academic but requires extra support to help deal with emotions (due to his ADHD diagnosis) and the school (and SEN programme) help to provide that support (waiting for the ADHD doesn’t exist comments). Most people with children who require additional support are not disabled and do not get any disability payments. How about a bit of empathy and support for future generations.
Years ago if your attention wandered in school or you were hyper active- you got a slap or the slipper – that cured any attention deficit in two minutes
what these kids need is a bit of tough love, instead of wrapping them in cotton wool and pandering to them
really and have to put up with some over sensitive, cry baby at work – I think not.
toughen the kid up, or it will suffer as an adult.
it is dog eat dog out here and survival of the strongest. If you do not prepare your kid for the harsh reality of life as an adult, then you will doom it to a life of hiding in doors on benefits.
OMG I hope you’re not a parent!
i am…they grew up, left home and are succeeding….no soft touch, whiny wrapping up in cotton wool.
strong, confident and self sufficient, no benefit sponging whiners in our family
Well guess what… times change and sometimes for the better…. My children will grow up with a positive work ethic and empathy for others less fortunate. I have never claimed a benefit in my life, you seem to have lost the thread of the original news article. Do me a favour, look up SEN and understand what they do before jumping to conclusions and hopping up onto your soap box.
I also have no time for benefit sponging whiners, but this article is about a support network designed to help children with their needs. Unlike when you were a younger you can’t ignore kids that don’t fit into pigeon hole, how many kids of your generation would have done so much better if the ‘system’ helped them rather than ignored them.
IF you were anything of a decent parent, adding additional costs of a needy child to society, YOU would have got another job, or worked extra hours to pay for all the extras that you prefer the rest of us to now fund.
People accepted that simple minded were a part of society, and needed a little help and a basic education.
But as usual, greed of the parents takes over, as they ‘demand’ equality. BUT these children AREN’T equal, otherwise they would not need such help.
So now, a simple child get given more help, more money wasted on it than a clever child who will be paying taxes and making the world function, not just a drag for all others to fund.
YOU likely do very well from it, so see it differently.
Fund what exactly…? I haven’t demanded anything from anyone. My child is extremely academic, way above where they should be for their age, not needy in anyway and respectful. Think that’s a thumbs up in the parenting column lol. Perhaps a mirror for you would be useful!
As I’ve said previously, I’m so thankful you keyboard warrior mindless morons are the minority and in no positions of power.
wrong again zippy – watch the funding cuts coming, as the recession kicks in – then you will see, we are not the minority, but the majority
What recession? Look at the figures, we aren’t in one and it looks like we won’t be.
As a tax payer for my entire life (thus far) I absolutely hate people playing the benefit system and getting something for nothing, but additional support for children in schools, who in the right mind would deny them that?
you aren’t really looking are you zippy just blindly following the mainstream media mantra.
house prices are coming down.
job losses are moving up
people have less money to spend as interest rates are taking more of their cash for the mortgage
discretionary spending, such as white goods, clothing, eating out are slowing rapidly
more businesses closing – wilko is the latest, boots closing more stores etc etc
cost push inflation intentionally happening.
this is the direction of travel zippy – zoom out and look at the big picture – it is clear as day, what we are moving into.
this is by design, to drain the additional liquidity out of the financial system that was poured in due to covid and to prevent hyperinflation taking hold
And yet my company has made the most money in the first two quarters of this year then in any year from the last 25 years.
You go out and about and see all these people not going out and spending money. Did you go to Cowes week? It was jammed packed with people spending money. In general pubs, cafes and shops are all busy with people spending money.
Things might be difficult for some, but there still appears to be a lot of disposable income around.
I’m not particularly following mainstream media, just going out using my own experiences, perhaps you should do the same.
direction of travel zippy, direction of travel – that is what matters – Q3 and 4 won’t be as good – you know it and nor will 2024. Q1/2 are in the past
making the most money in 25 years only tells you that you have increased prices and taken in more revenue as a result of it – but what of your other metrics – costs, PBT, volume etc or whatever KPI you use in the sector you are in
Tv licence was £10 for colour in 1968 – but is £159 now.
ford fiesta was launched 46 years ago and cost £1856, today it is £17,905
electricity bills are up 344% in the last 25 years
all this tells you that the businesses that provide these goods/services have made more money per item than any time in the past – doesn’t mean they are doing well vs cost
Doesn’t matter which way I look at it, the money coming in right now (and forecasted right through to the end of 2024 at the moment) is beyond anything I could have imagined (I’ll let you contemplate what sector I work in), orders through the roof as our profits! I can look at any KPI, cut the data in any way and it’s all positive.
There is money out there, if you are struggling perhaps get a better job because guess what… There’s lots of job vacancies too. We have added a a third more employees to the company.
name the company then zippy and lets get a look at those accounts on companies house – it is easy to brag from the anonymity of the keyboard.
by the way – forecasts don’t mean much and you know it.
and no, I am not struggling and haven’t done for many years.
So you’re not suffering from a so called recession or the cost of living crisis.
in this current climate it’s quite obvious which industry/company is making the most money, think about it!
Before commenting, please research and educate yourself on what SEN is and what type of support they give to a wide range of children. Obviously the people commenting here have NO clue, thankfully these selfish uneducated morons are the minority!
wrong – the majority object to paying taxes to fund those that demand equality, yet are a burden on the rest of us.
Demand equality…. WTF!! What about provide extra support to children who need it to enable them to have a better future.
if you need extra support then you aren’t equal to the rest, so don’t demand to be treated equally, because you aren’t
So how would you treat these kids? Every single child is different, which ones would you give up on?
This rhetoric is very similar to historical regimes!
The morons commenting on here have no education at all. Just ignore them and they will go back into their caves.
Wilb you seem to be Bi Polar but your earlier comments were spot on. Keep off the meds. You thought clearly without.
Robert Rushton/Wilbur/Sanguinius you are one and the same and evidently tripolar. You need some better medication to salve your addled brain.
Comfortable for yourself to think all who disagree with your views are ‘knuckle dragging, swivel eyed, racist, or nasty’ but most of us are none of those.
We are just sick of cash being thrown at what in MOST cases will be lost causes.
Whilst one in a large batch may pay its way, most won’t. So only fools back an outsider. UNLESS OF COURSE IT IS SOMEONE ELSES MONEY.
In this instance it IS, OURS.
Hence the posts.
Exactly, well said RR.
Why don’t these parents of such, take out a second mortgage, or loan, work longer hours or live more cheaply and use their money, not ours to fund what they have faith (often misplaced) in?
Answer, because us mugs have been made to feel bad as we see, for telling the truth, so unless you are pretending having one or more in the class is great, you are dispised.
And yet, the ONLY reason the schools and teachers welcome such, apart from they have too, is because the school get huge extra funding to take them in, and the individual teacher oft get a helper, making their life easier. Which WE all fund along with the sen child and its family and home.
Seems to me that posters have hit the nail, firmly on the head.
Perhaps Zippy would like to tell all us tax payers, council tax payers and now stealth tax payers who pay for these likely permanent drains on the UK’s (our) finances, just how much he gets from having a SEN child?
Include child allowance, include help with rent, c.tax, or mortgage, include additional gains such as free health prescriptions & dentistry for all the family, along with the actual amount you get for having a SEN.
We will have to only guess at the other costs to us for schools being altered, school transport, meals, uniforms if all or some are provided, and the extra cost of one to one helpers, and care workers if the SEN is disruptive.
I get NOTHING…. and as a 40% tax payer I do not want my taxes wasted and guess what…. in this case they aren’t. Like I’ve said previously – you people don’t know what SEN means and what SEN support is… LOOK IT UP!
It is our duty as humans to care for each other, especially the less able in society. If we do not, then we lose our humanity. Caring for others requires no reward or “payback”. It is simply a requirement for membership of a civilized society.
It isn’t about NOT caring, it is about the amount and cost of care society ‘ought’ to give which is the problem.
The Zippy person is clearly caring and loving for their child. But on 40% tax bracket can clearly fund much of the aid given.
Many parents milk the system, and ‘use’ ailments of their children to avoid working, or to claim everything going.
We all know someone like that, and clearly some parents likely Zippy is not on the make, but many are.
But of course it will mainly be the ‘decent’ parents who will bother to comment
Schools are actually paid handsomely for each and every SEN child on their register.
There are schools on the Island which go out of their way to provide places, facilities, resources and trained teachers to help these children, partly because of the need but also it should be said because of the financial resources provided to the school.
There really is no need to look for extra money for these children, they are already perfectly well catered for. Many SEN children in schools are actually taught on a 1-to-1 basis, which is obviously a far better ratio than other children receive. And, as for using the money for ‘sweet treats’ for teachers, well that’s the biggest load of nonsense I’ve heard in a while.