Authors

John Roberts drawing
John Roberts

John Roberts is SEND and inclusion editor at Tes magazine

All articles by John Roberts
Inclusion: what the DfE expects from schools
Government sets out expectations for what schools’ universal offer should look like and how they can use its new Inclusive Mainstream Fund
General
25 March 2026
The DfE has produced a guide on how schools should use inclusion funding.
Top schools ‘shutting out’ disadvantaged students with SEND
Secondary schools with the best exam results have fewer students receiving both free school meals and SEN support than live in their catchment areas, report warns
Secondary
24 March 2026
Top schools are 'effectively shutting out' disadvantaged pupils with SEND, says report
Special schools more than 10,000 pupils over capacity
The proportion of special schools that are full or over capacity is far higher than for mainstream schools, the latest DfE figures show
Specialist Sector
19 March 2026
Special schools more than 10,000 pupils over capacity
Lack of space in schools could halt inclusion drive, DfE warned
The government’s SEND plans involve thousands of pupils being taught in new ‘inclusion bases’ - but many school sites don’t have space to create them, say leaders
General
13 March 2026
A lack of space in school buildings could hamper a drive to create more inclusion bases, leaders warn.
Deliver on SEND or lose services, ministers warn councils
SEND reform plans are needed by June – and government will withdraw services from failing authorities, local officers have been warned
Specialist Sector
12 March 2026
Councils have been sent a hard-hitting letter on SEND reforms
Ofsted rejects 1 in 5 inspection deferral requests
Watchdog figures show 621 school inspections were deferred in 2024-25 and a further 37 were paused
General
6 March 2026
Ofsted has approval all pause requests but rejected one in five deferral requests from schools.