Oasis leader calls for a national shift in SEND support

A powerful new opinion piece by Suzanne Gill, Principal of Oasis Academy Warndon and our National Primary Inclusion Lead (SEND), has been published in Schools Week. 

In it, Suzanne reflects on the long‑standing “postcode lottery” faced by children with additional needs and the strain this places on families, schools and local services. She highlights the transformational impact of inclusive practice across Oasis academies, from adaptive teaching and calm, relational environments to strong collaboration between teachers, SEND teams and families.

Suzanne also explores how many of the government’s proposed SEND reforms mirror approaches already embedded across Oasis, including our graduated response, strengths‑based pupil passports and specialist provision pathways. At the same time, she calls for greater national consistency, clearer expectations around “ordinarily available” provision, and a cultural shift towards genuine co‑production with families.

Her message is clear: inclusion must be a universal entitlement, not a postcode privilege, and the work already happening across Oasis shows what is possible.

Read Suzanne’s full article on Schools Week here: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/its-time-for-the-oasis-way-to-become-the-national-way-too/.