As Ofsted notes, investment in special educational needs (SEN) is not delivering value for money (“pound;5bn spend on SEN fails to boost results”, October 16).

There is a better way. Last year, over half of children involved in the Every Child Counts programme we support had been identified by their schools as having SEN. But as a result of an average 20 hours’ one-to-one help from a teacher with one year’s specialist training, two in three pupils achieved level 2 or above in maths at the end of key stage 1. None had been predicted to do so.

Results for Every Child a Reader are similar. If schools redirected a fraction of what they spend on teaching assistant support into specialist teaching, there would be a sea change in outcomes for SEN pupils.

Jean Gross, Director, Every Child a Chance Trust.