to ask you to tell me about 'special' schools

[bettys9thleg]

This is inspired by a thread yesterday which was taken down. I have a dd who has additional needs. She's in nursery at the moment but there have been some suggestions she might need to go to school in a 'special' school next year (is that even the right term? My apologies if it's not it's what people have said to me so far from the council/ school).

I am really torn I've written in my EHCP family conversation form I'd like her in mainstream with help but that thread yesterday gave me doubts. Anyone with experience what are special schools are like? Are all children taught 1:1? Or is it just smaller class sizes? Are there still opportunities for clubs and things? What difference is there in the amount of GCSEs people get (I know that's far off). Any info would be gratefully received.

There is a huge variation in special schools. Different Local Authorities may have schools accomodating different needs, but most look to place within their own authority as it is cheaper for transport. Unless a child's needs are incredibly complex, they rarely have 1-1, but class sizes are generally small with a high adult child ratio. There are typically few to no opportunities for extra curricular activities and it proves v difficult for after and before school care in some instances. Re results - depends entirely on the needs of the child and their ability to achieve at that level.
My DC has been in specialist provision since Nursery. It's been a mixed bag but definitely the best option for her.

My DC has been in 2 special schools. It was a long hard battle to get the LA to fund and I had to prepare for tribunal. The LA backed down the week before the hearing. I had professionals supporting me
Both schools have classes of 4-6 with smaller groups for some activities. Not every child will have a 1-1 but there will be at least 1 teacher and 1 TA in the class. Both offer all the usual academic opportunities plus vocational options. One of them has a garage and they can learn mechanics. Both have building, plastering, construction, hair and beauty, child care, horticultural and animal care on offer. Both do a lot outdoors. Both offer social skills and time out in town visiting cafes/shops/supporting local initiatives.
The lay out of the day is very different. One of them has quiet classrooms away from the main school for children who feel they need it. Both are flexible around individual needs

I should say that neither are LA schools. There isn't a local authority provision close to me. The closest is 1hr 15 but I still had to fight not to go there. It was in special measures and very grim

I think it'd be useful to look very closely at your nearest mainstream schools as well and find out what parents think of SEN etc. But keeping your mind open about the specialist provision

There are different types of special schools. My dc attends one for children 3-19 with asd with severe learning difficulties or multiple and complex needs. Classes are small and have a high ratio of staff, my dc is in a class of 9 with one teacher and four teaching assistants. There are some classes with a higher ratio. It is not easy to get a place in his school and it is over capacity, every child is treated as an individual and taught accordingly. My dc is 14 and is one of the more able students, his reading age is 8 but in other areas he is less able. He will never live a fully independent life.
There are other schools that deal with moderate learning difficulties and they may have some pupils able to reach gcse level in some subjects.
Other options are support in a mainstream school or a unit attached to a mainstream school.
It all depends on level of need. Usually local authorities don't want to pay for a special school place!!!

The only SS I have experience of is a modern, purpose built school with sensory rooms, soft play rooms etc. I don’t think all the children have a 1-2-1 but some do depending on their needs. The classes are very small and have toys etc aswell as learning materials.

I don’t know re GCSE’s but I know a great deal of the children aren’t able to read or write at all so it’s highly unlikely they’ll get any formal qualifications.

The teaching is based on the usual key stages but obviously taught differently.

If you go to the education section of your council website there should be a list of all schools in the area. You can then visit their websites and have a look. You should probably also look at the ones in the neighbouring local authority if you are anywhere near a boundary.

You can also join a Facebook group for parents of DC with the same diagnosis and ask for recommendations (and good to avoids...).

I wouldn't worry about GCSEs at this point. They may not even exist in 11 years and you will need to look at secondaries before then. However, if the type if students a school serves are able to sit GCSEs, they'll be offered - why wouldn't they be? If schools are small though, which most special schools are, that does tend to restrict the subjects that can be offered.

I think the school I know caters for moderate learning difficulties, some children are there because they have very complex Heath conditions too.

RightMove school checker is also not bad!

There's rarely 1-1 in specialist provision but much smaller classes.

I found in our local specialists they were actually less willing to follow unusual provisions a child may have in F because it doesn't fit, which threw me.

There's also a vast dominance of boys over girls in specialist.

My autistic daughter was offered a place in an SEMH setting with 7 others in her class, all extremely violent boys. There was no other specialist option.

I went back to the drawing board and rewrote her EHCP. Luckily her mainstream have always been very open minded. I essentially brought the specialist services to her in her mainstream with a high level of essential training for staff. She receives more funding in mainstream than a place in the specialist cost. Her mainstream were more willing to be flexible and open to unusual/different provisions. She has a highly specialist SALT in every week, she has a SI OT in every week. The training of the class staff is high for her needs but all funded and specified with her plan.

She is thriving in mainstream but it took rewriting her EHCP to get there.

Be open minded to all options and consider what will work best for your child.

My son has severe autism and severe learning difficulties and we kept him in mainstream until he was 7 with full time one to one( the thread yesterday was probably aimed at kids like him ).
I don't regret my decision as although he has many needs he's social,loves people and loves going out in the community where his behaviour and manners are always immaculate.
He learnt so much from his peers in mainstream that he wouldn't have in special school (I don't care if he gave his teachers more work) but to be honest is TA did all the work anyway!
At age 7 we moved him to special school to learn to be independent from his one to one and integrated into a small group .
He's thriving now (age 17) .
Look around some special Ed schools and you will get a feel
Of what you want for your child. I turned down lots of school suggestions as they didn't feel right for him so don't be forced into something if you don't want it x

I did have to spend around 4k on independent reports and a tribunal to sort her plan though.

A friend of mine has a son with spina bifida and is a wheelchair user. She chose to put him in a 'special' school and at the time I thought she was doing him a big disservice (the dc in THE SS largely have learning disabilities too) What a fool I was.... he had regular access to resources such as a swimming pool and other things for wheelchair users and did exceptionally well in sport. For him he has really shone there and his mum did the best thing for him.

I worked in a secondary SN school years ago in a city. It was not somewhere I would ever want a child of mine. Many of the kids were not well looked after at home and had ss involvement and behaviour was very challenging and attainment low. There weren't any after
school clubs that I recall as all kids went home on a bus/taxi. I also worked in a couple of SN primary schools which were much better but there was still challenging behaviour and attainment was nothing like in a mainstream school. There are generally 8 - 10 kids in a class in my experience with a TA or two (although it is old experience).

The difficulty with children with SN in mainstream school is that they can be left behind by their peers and be working at a completely different level which can be isolating IME. SN schools can often offer more support and may have access to things like sensory rooms, better access to speech and language therapists etc

It really depends on your daughter. If you're already thinking about her GCSE's then I would want her in mainstream personally and see how she copes. Will she be moving up with friends from nursery? What are her particular difficulties?

Ds10 is autistic and goes to a specialist autism school.

On paper, you'd think he'd be in mainstream - academically gifted, sociable, no learning problems at all but he struggles massively with anxiety, sensory overload and social interaction. He was out of school for over a year before starting at his current school.

All the kids are autistic - various learning needs from none to some. There is a real sense of community there, my son really feels he belongs to an autistic community with tons of friends where they are all totally normal. This has done wonders for his social communication and anxiety.

He is in a class of 10 with specialist autism teacher and 2 x TAs. Classes are large with sensory areas everywhere, great autism strategies embedded everywhere.

Mental health and social skills lessons very frequently. SLT led sessions weekly. Lots of outdoor time as sensory breaks - forest school, sports etc. They take part in specialist school competitions. Pool on site. Science labs, music lessons etc. A lot of off site trips and hands on learning which suits much more.

They don't do loads of GCSEs, but they gain in so many other ways that I know my son will be so much happier as a result.

I've worked in one previously and very much enjoyed it, if we hadn't needed to relocate I'd have stayed there happily. And round where we are now there aren't vacancies very often so expect those schools are good places to work too.

This was an SEMH school but a lot of the kids had MLD or SpLD as well, lots of autism, some ADHD. We had two staff in each class of 8, usually a teacher and a TA but sometimes the timetable allowed two teachers which I found really odd at first but we made it work well. Very practical curriculum for the most part up to GCSE (lots of BTECs or similar vocational rather than straight GCSE). All entered for GCSE Eng Maths Sci if they would 'cope', functional skills if not. Some went out to college or other provision but many didn't actually want to leave the 'safety' of school. Almost all kids went onto college or similar, some on supported pathways but many on 'normal' level 2 courses generally in their favourite vocational area.
LOADs of trips including residentials and lunch clubs but no extra curriculars after school due to taxi transport. Some disruption to the school if a student had a severe incident but they were few and far between. About 85 kids on roll so a real family feel. Lovely food!

My child has attended 2 different special schools and they were vastly different in size and funding (2 completely different parts of the uk). Both were/are staffed by fantastic people who worked their arses off and really threw themselves into not only providing an education for my child but also taking care of his emotional needs in a way that the mainstream school he started out in just didn’t. That was partly due to lack of training and resources on the school’s part and because they viewed my child as a problem that had to be endured/dealt with until his EHCP was granted. I have never felt that he is a problem at either of his special school settings. The children are not usually given 1to1 care but classes are much smaller (his class is currently 8 children) and there are usually 3-4 staff in the room with them- 1 teacher and some support staff.

Imo before you make a decision about this you need to find out exactly what your options for special school(s) are locally and what education in mainstream will look like. My son was excluded from class activities a lot because he had a 1to1, who was little more than a very kind glorified babysitter and it was easy to shunt them off out of the way. In his special school setting they are part of the community and and a big part of their education is them socialising. I know I sound biased btw and it will be different in other places but that’s why it’s important to do your research locally. Best wishes with whatever you choose.

Thank you so much for all these replies everyone. It's giving me a better idea. How do you actually go about visiting schools? Can you just ring up and ask to visit?

It's so tricky my dd has Ataxia so can walk but is unsteady and falls easily and seems to have some processing issues too. She finds it hard to concentrate and gets easily distracted in the classroom. She stutters and isn't toilet trained (I'm forever working on it). We don't have a proper diagnosis yet investigations are still ongoing. It's so hard to know what to do for the best. That thread yesterday made me really worry about keeping her in mainstream.

I work in a special school and my advice to you would be if it is possible to keep in mainstream with support then do that without a doubt

They are really individual. Your local authority should have a Local Offer and that normally has a list of all the special schools they run and sometimes independent/charity schools. They might also have units attached to mainstream schools that specialise in deaf or blind children for instance. In my area tgey have schools for social emotional and mental health, learning difficulties, comminication and interaction difficulties and physical impairments. They divide some into 'high and low' . A lot of children arent a perfect fit so go for the best fit.
Some are really very much like a mainstream school but with smaller classes and they adjust the curriculumn and envirinmeng, have targeted training for staff and a few therapies on site. You might be less likely to get 1 :1 because the whole environment is different so the children can be more independent.

My sons special school is nothing like school. He is taught 1 : 1 and does group activities spend a lot of time on therapy and wont have access to gcses as they only do functional skills.

The hardest thing i found about special schools is they arent easy to visit and they often wont talk to you until the council consults officially.

You'll get loads of different opinions. I would never agree that mainstream is best. All children have the right to be educated in an environment and in a way that is right for them - not 'helped' to conform to the highest common denominator. But that's based on my personal experiences, other people will have different.

My daughter is 21 and has been in both special and mainstream provision throughout her education. I would say her education has been good in both types of setting - she normally had a 1-1 assistant in mainstream and would be in a small class when in special school. The key difference is peers. In special schools she had real friendships and relationships. When in mainstream it was more difficult and she was often bullied. She was generally isolated. She was in a special school for high school and it was a very positive experience- if they have friends they enjoy school more.

However, having a child with SEN is always an adventure and things can change quickly. What works at age 7 May not work at 10. My daughter moved several times

• mainstream playgroup
• mainstream nursery and referred to special nursery within 1 term
• special nursery/infants
• home Ed due to bullying from mainstream school attached to special infants
• transition to mainstream juniors with 1-1
• special high school
• special 6th form for 1 yr

-special unit in mainstream college

• mainstream course in college ( with high needs funding)

She is autistic with moderate learning difficulties

I would advise you to visit as many settings as possible with an open mind.

I have to add in here, that I saw that thread, and in all the schools I have worked in I haven't come across any child that has been seen as a burden, as was implied on the thread in question.

Yes, we have some children who disrupt others, yes, we have a lot who need 1-1 support. I'm one class last year we had 3 students with a full time 1-1 each out of 27 students. Hard work, yes. But there is a lot to be said for mainstream for many students. And the old cliché is true in a lot of cases that the rest of the class do learn a lot through having mix of needs.

My point there is that while a special school may well be the right place for your daughter, (and in that case I very much hope you find one) but please don't feel that she would be unwelcome in mainstream, because in my experience that is rare.

My daughter has been in an SEN setting since reception and I know that I 100% made the right choice. There is a very high adult to child ratio and very small classes (there is 8 children in my daughters class including her, with 1 teacher and 3 teaching assistants), and I know that some children last year had a 1-2-1 on top of this. There has been some hiccups (my daughter has autism and struggles to tolerate some noises and a child last year was very noisy and it disrupted her whole year) however this year has been completely different and the changes in her have been amazing!

It’s such a nurturing and understanding environment, and she is truly thriving there.

Yes, there is no after school clubs but they do horse riding, go on regular outings and do extra curricular activities such as learning to play a musical instrument and so on.

Children can take the usual exams if they are able to.

For me, I knew there was no way my daughter would cope in a class full of 30 children with 2 adults - she would be completely overlooked, disciplined for things that were out of her control and not given the high level of help and focus that she has now and for us, a special needs school has really paid off x