A lot was written last week about the levelling up White Paper - not least the clumsy way in which it outlined a “national mission” to eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy.

Of course, aiming for a literate and numerate population is a worthy and laudable aim. But not reaching the Sats target for literacy and numeracy is not the same as being illiterate and innumerate.

However, for many of us, the idea of yet more targets for mainstream settings on key metrics such as these came with deeper concerns - that it will further erode the inclusivity of mainstream schools and narrow the curriculum even further.

Eroding inclusivity 

This is because any move to a 90 per cent “pass rate” required by the government and monitored by Ofsted will create an accountability cliff-edge, with those not hitting it castigated by a ruthless system that has little nuance and presents school outcomes in black and white. 

As such, pupils with special educational needs or disabilities will be seen even more as a data point in the negative column rather than a young person needing education. This will give another reason for schools to focus less on inclusivity and more on ensuring they meet the latest accountability goal being set from on high.

This issue was captured with aplomb in Tes recently when it delved into the issue of “magnet schools” that attract high numbers of children with SEND - while other schools have far less of these pupils - and the impact this has.

It is something we see regularly with parents and pupils telling us they have been told by other schools that they cannot meet the needs their child has, and to try us instead.

“East Whitby is good with SEND, try there,” they’ll be told.

This means we now have 10 children with education, health and care plans (EHCP) in school, three others on assessment places in our Targeted Mainstream provision and another four EHCPs in various stages of the process. 

We also see a clear disparity between the number of pupils in our school with significant SEND needs and other schools locally.

An unsustainable situation

We’re proud of this reputation and the brilliant work our staff do - but if the new literacy and numeracy targets are introduced, the consequence will almost certainly be that yet even more children with SEND arrive at settings like ours. I worry about how sustainable this will be.

Financially taking children with SEND can have a big impact - especially if the child in question does not have an EHCP. This often means that with the precarious state of school finances as they are, what money there is has been prioritised for pupils with SEND at the expense of others, which is far from ideal.

What’s more, the process of receiving an EHCP is long and tortuous, with schools often required to show at least two cycles of evidence and evidence of spending the notional £6,000 before a child will even be accepted for assessment.

Staffing is another major concern as many school staff lack the skill and expertise to support pupils with complex needs. This is not their fault as training in this area is minimal, but if more schools are working with more of these pupils, and others have far fewer, it is something that needs addressing.

Further smashing inclusivity with the new 90 per cent targets will only exacerbate both of these trends.

No easy solutions

Is there a solution that would enable the government to push its literacy and numeracy agenda and avoid this situation? If there is, it’s not clear.

You could put inclusion on the Ofsted framework but I am aware this would be open to becoming another fake target and might mean schools go the other way and work to keep a child in their setting to hit a target rather than because it’s best for the child.

Improving the SEND system, too, would be important - better funding, more specialist settings, improving diagnosis and better training on Initial Teaching Training for new teachers could all make a difference.

Certainly, there is a lot of hope that the SEND White Paper will outline a lot more in this area and show that concerns that have been raised repeatedly over the past few years will be listened to.

Sadly though, the reality may be that in attempting to improve numeracy and literacy even more pupils with SEND are pushed, nudged or encouraged towards certain settings by others, widening the inclusivity gap even further. 

Simon Smith is headteacher at East Whitby Academy