Schooling Options
What is a 'Special School'?
A special school is designed specifically for children with special educational needs. They have smaller classes usually and specialist interventions. They take several forms; it may be a school that takes children of a broad range of special needs or they may be very specialized. For example, just taking children with autistic spectrum disorders and even within that maybe taking just those who are high functioning or those with very severe autistic difficulties.
What is a 'Mainstream School'?
A mainstream school is a school that caters for all children, including those with special educational needs. It's the type of thing that you and I think of as a school.
What schooling options are available for my child with SEN?
The schooling options available at the one end are special schools and at the other end are main stream schools, but within that you also have unit provision and resourced provision and sometimes those two terms are interchangeable so for example a unit provision actually means that on the hole children will attend a unit for some or all of the week. In some schools the unit may actually be a resourced for example if you have a school for hearing impaired children they may have a hearing resource where the children just pop backwards and forwards from the resource through the day to get anything that they need in order to cope in the main stream classroom. Resourced provision usually means that the resource goes out into the classroom with the child but it is very specifically targeted and therefore the child is in the classroom for most of the day and may occasionally be withdrawn to a unit for specialist intervention and help. However if your child is in a special school they may for some or all of the time actually be included in a main stream school and likewise children with special educational needs in a main stream school may go for some or part of the week to a special school or to a link college to help them focus on the areas of difficulty and to get around those difficulties.
What is resourced and unit provision?
Resourced and unit provision are found in mainstream schools, and there are lots of overlapping and blurs between them, but basically a unit tends to be somewhere children will spend quite a considerable amount of their time getting specialist help and intervention, with the idea being that eventually they will become less dependent on the unit and integrate more into the mainstream classroom. Resource provision can be in the form of a unit where there are specific resources to help with children who are blind or hearing impaired, and they may just use that resource as and when required. The other way that resource provision works is it may be when a member of staff or a particular expert goes out into the classroom and works with specific children at specific times, and is an additional resource that is needed to meet their learning needs.
What is a maintained special school?
A maintained special school is a special school that is funded and resourced by the local educational authority.
What is an independent special school?
An independent special school is basically a school that isn't maintained so it may be owned by a proprietor, or it could be a non-profit making, but nevertheless an independent school. Where there is an independent school it's very important that you check out that it's actually approved by the DFES, because otherwise if you have a child with special education needs you may not get the funding for a place in that school.
Why might I consider keeping my child in a mainstream school?
On the whole, children's special educational needs should be kept in mainstream schools. We have a move towards inclusion which has been hard fought for, and which is generally supported. As long as your child is getting the help that they need to progress and feels confidence about what they're doing, that's exactly the right place for them. It means they're with their own peer group, they can have aspirations, they have good role models because they can see other children. For example, if your child has behavioral issues, they have good examples of behavior around them. So there are lots of reasons for keeping your child in the school - not least that they're with a community. They will be living near their friends and all of those things. They will have the full range of facilities that sometimes are missing in special schools. They'll be able to take part in sports. What it allows them to do is to play to their strengths, and that's very important.
What alternatives are available to wholesale special or mainstream schooling?
The alternatives available, first of all, if your child is in a special school is they are likely spend some or part of the week in a mainstream school where that's deemed appropriate. Or actually, they may even spend time in a more specialist environment if their special needs are quite severe. Likewise, a child in a mainstream school may spend some or all of the time in a special school, so that's two options. There's another way where some schools now have resourced or unit provision, and that provision means that the child can be in a mainstream setting, but actually in a specialist unit or resource for some or all of the week, but actually still be in the same school or same consortium of schools.
Are there any independent mainstream schools that provide for children with SEN?
Oh, certainly. If your child just has mild dyslexia, or dyspraxia, or perhaps has Asberger's, and it doesn't interfere too much with their learning, then they absolutely should be in that mainstream environment. The Good Schools Guide had a questionnaire that's gone out to all schools; three thousand school so far have replied, and a good number of those are mainstream schools, and lots of them are independent schools, and that shows that in fact there's quite good provision out there. We also know that there are lots of independent schools who have good provision for special needs, particularly when we're talking about specific learning difficulties or perhaps for children who have mild sensory impairments, maybe moderate learning difficulties, the mild end of Asberger's, they have very good provision, but don't like to advertise it too much because they don't want to be seen as "the special needs school". So I would say, if you have a school that you're interested in, it ticks the boxes, but your child has a difficulty that isn't too severe and doesn't require a very, very different curriculum, then by all means, approach an independent school that you're interested in and see if they will work with you.
How much will it cost to send my child to an independent mainstream school?
That's almost as bored as it is long. Basically the cheapest schools for an 11 year old are around seven and a half thousand pounds a year, rising to 50,000 pounds or more. For boarding, you're looking at starting at 16,500 thousand pounds per year to 26,000 pounds or more. What you need to guard against with any fees is checking what isn't included. A usual find is that a learning support isn't included, and that may be charged, you may find that you get two or three lessons that are included and you have to pay the rest, so check very thoroughly. If you have any therapies such as occupational therapy, or speech therapy, you will almost always be charged for that as an actual, but additionally some schools will charge for exams, for text books, for insurance, anything and everything, curriculum trips. So be very careful to check for what the fees include and most importantly what they don't include.
My child has SEN and I want to send them to an independent mainstream school but I'm not sure I can afford it, what can I do?
There have been a few instances where if you can persuade the local education authority that this school offers your child something that they cannot provide elsewhere and that your child needs, you may get some funding or some help with fees. That is the exception though, not the norm. There are occassionally charitable trusts who may put funds your way, but again few and far between. However, if you have a child who's also gifted - and remember many children with special education needs are gifted - and you think they may be running for a scholarship, perhaps for sports or academia because maybe they're very good at maths or something, then by all means run a child for a scholarship, because most scholarships now are means tested. That means that you may be able to get up to 100 percent of the fees.
My child has SEN, are they entitled to free transport to school?
Actually, any child where there may be a difficulty in them accessing their education can be transported to school. The authority must provide transport if it's deemed there is a problem. However, if you opt for a school that is one other than the authorities recommended, then you may not be entitled to free transport, even though it's a problem getting your child to school. However, authorities are free to broker's deals, so it could be you can come to some kind of arrangement with them.
