VILLAGE school pupils have joined in a national campaign calling for fairer education funding and urgent reform of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

Children from the Cheselbourne Village School, near Blandford, came together with chair of governors Jon Moller, headteacher Chris Perry and Dorset Council’s cabinet portfolio holder for children’s services, Cllr Clare Sutton, to show their backing for the f40 group’s campaign.

The group, representing 43 local authorities across England, is urging the government to increase education funding and address what it describes as a growing crisis in SEND provision.

It argues that funding should be distributed more fairly so every school has the resources it needs to operate effectively.

As the sector awaits the government’s forthcoming Schools White Paper, along with anticipated reforms to SEND, f40 is calling for changes that are strong enough to resolve challenges facing schools and families.

The group says any reforms must also be backed by sufficient funding to ensure they can be properly delivered.

Cllr Sutton said: “Dorset Council has been urging the government to set out clearly and openly its reforms of the SEND system, and it needs to do this as soon as possible.

“The current system is failing our children and families, and we are facing huge ongoing costs caused by rising high-needs deficits.”

Chair of school governors Jon Moller said the funding situation was placing increasing strain on schools across the county.

“Dorset schools currently face a ‘perfect storm’ where some of the lowest per-pupil funding in the country meets rapidly escalating operational costs and significant local cost-of-living pressures.

“This creates an unsustainable financial burden that jeopardises our ability to provide the inclusive education every child and young person deserves.

“It is simply not fair that a child’s and young person’s educational opportunities are limited by their postcode.”

Demand for SEND support continues to outstrip available funding.

Local authorities in England are estimated to face a combined SEND deficit of £6 billion by April, a figure expected to rise unless action is taken.

f40 says the government must commit to covering the cost of current and future SEND deficits to keep councils financially sustainable until reforms bring policy and funding into alignment.

Chair of f40 Cllr Alex Dale said: “The reforms must be backed by funding, or schools and the reforms themselves will be set up to fail.”