To wonder where these kids are meant to go?!

[Wonderberry]

Unfortunately, my child's school is closing due to the VAT imposition on private school fees. She has special needs, and her fees are paid for by her EHCP, as it is a cheaper alternative to a special school. I am not rich. She cannot attend a state mainstream due to her special needs, and the council agrees with this.

I now have no school placement for her. The special schools are hugely oversubscribed (over 10 applications per place). Even if she could go to a state mainstream, there is no space in any of them, due to lots of schools closing locally. I have called dozens of them in desperation, as I need for her to go somewhere.

I have been frantically contacting the council to get her a new school place. They won't even respond. I'm faced with her being without any school place shortly. I cannot home school as I need to work.

My DD is far from alone in this. Unfortunately, the government has paid no thought into the wellbeing of SEND children, when imposing the VAT.

Sorry - I was adding to your agreement but obviously forgot to say that!! 🫣

OP. Push for an emergency review and a special school placement.
The LA can direct the school to take her and will have to pay for whatever the school deems necessary to accommodate her. (In theory. They will probably then backtrack and not pay it but at least she’ll have a place!)

@Merryoldgoat it is really difficult when you have a child who is academically able but can’t cope with mainstream. I have 2 that fall into that category. Both have EOTAS/EOTIS.

I don't think I can ask for an emergency review when the annual review is still pending. I have tried to impress the urgency of the situation, without success.

It would be great if the special school had space. I'm not sure it will be the case though.

All the talk about cost is a bit of a deviation from the topic at hand, but others have confirmed how much special schools cost. I imagine this is a shock to many.

Contact your MP - this is something they can push for you.

EOTAS funding for a full time LSA who can work from your home.

A good EOTAS package would include far more than an LSA.

Have you considered Minerva online academy?

I'm sure it's great for lots of kids.

It wouldn't work for us as it's only for secondary, and my daughter wouldn't be able to learn independently with online schooling. She needs intensive support.

I live in fear of this happening to my DS school. It's a tiny independent, on paper a mainstream but in reality at least 50% of the pupils are being funded via an EHCP. They specialise in providing an academic curriculum to children who are unable to cope in mainstream or who have school related trauma. As said above - it's actually much cheaper than a state special school place, especially when transport is taken into consideration. In my area the nearest state special school that can take children with my DS's profile is 45 miles away!

In his 5 years there my DS has gone from being excluded from his primary school for violent behaviour, unable to speak in school, daily restraint, needing 2-1 adult support and spending about 2 years being contained educated in a corridor....to being a star pupil, studying GCSE classes with his peers with minimal extra support, on track to take 10 GCSEs, well liked by staff and students, and truly thriving and happy in school.

But they're facing falling student numbers too as the parents who pay are choosing to go elsewhere or just home educate instead. If the school closes it will be an absolute disaster for the children and there simply isn't anywhere else that offers what they do! There are many children like my DS there who have been slowly and patiently reintegrated into school life by the amazing staff. Most of them would go right back and lose all the progress they've made if uprooted and stuffed back into wherever has space for them.

@Wonderberry I really hope you find something that works for your DD

I am utterly sick of hearing this!
Either independent schools are mega rich organisations sitting on a huge surplus + full of wealthy parents who can afford to pay the 20% tax OR there's the truth which is: most indy schools run on narrow margins with a tiny surplus. They are being hit with triple whammy of; VAT, NI rise + increased business rates. What other organisation (bearing in mind over 50% are not for profit) could absorb that sort of hit?

We always said that the smaller indy schools would be hit first and that's exactly what has happened. 24 closed since VAT was brought in and another 6 due to announce after Easter. That's even before Sept 25 hit.
In addition, the VAT disproportionately impacts on any kids with SEN + those ln fee assisted places. This is why the court case begins today!

Place funding in a maintained special school (and mainstream ARPS) is £10k and has been since 2014. There are top ups, but as you can imagine, these doesn’t come too easily from LAs.

in 10 years, place funding, the base funding for all children in maintained special schools has not changed. The system is so hugely underfunded.

OP, you could narrow your focus to mainstream schools that have additional resourced provision/resource base. They are not all equal, so research carefully. Perhaps get in contact with your local parent/carer forum for more local advice.

Consider judicial review regarding the annual review process.

Surespray is your school an independent specialist or a state funded special school?

That's just for the place though, isn't it? It doesn't take into account any funding that comes via an individual child's EHCP.

When DS was in mainstream, the place funding for every child was something like £6k. But DS had an EHCP that detailed £21k in additional funding for the provision stated (which the school cheerfully took and spent for nearly 2 years without actually letting DS attend very much, but that's another story!).

So £10k might be the bottom line base funding for a state special school place, but I imagine the majority of children will have additional funding attached to their EHCP that comes in a lot higher.

You might be sick of hearing it but it’s true.

I work in the sector in finance. I go to the events and conferences and see first hand some of the batshittery.

The schools that have already closed were already in trouble. That’s the truth of it.

Because they are being hit with a triple whammy that most organisations couldn't cope with all at once, let alone not for profit ones running on tiny margins! Most of these schools only have a small surplus of ie 1 term.
That's the point, government imposing triple whammy which have tipped them over the edge.

Of course the most fragile would close first, that's common sense. But they are the start, not the end of the closures. This disproportionately impacts small, local, rural + specialist SEN schools. It won't touch the big public schools and so the inequality gap increases.

This sounds wonderful, and exactly what I could do with for secondary. Do you mind PMing me the school name?

The reality is that independent non-selective schools have a high proportion of SEND children. There has been no consideration for these children.

Agreed. There may have been financial difficulty before, but the school could have limped on if not for all the challenges. Meanwhile, it's the children who suffer, especially those with send like my child.

@Merryoldgoat I think you might be right at the disparity in education provision in the indie sector however the falll out from these smaller schools going will be catastrophic they have held so many children who can’t fit into mainstream. A lot of these kids were being funded by parents now the state will have to pick up the tab Regardless of Bridget’s mantra one size fit all it doesn’t and it won’t. Re fees hmmmm Cotswold chine £200k plus Ruskin Mill £400k plus so £20k £50k looks pretty good but not to the state it doesn’t it’s a bloody mess

Not sure what these figures refer to, but yes, just seeing the fall out here :(

Place funding is element three top up funding. This can be topped up further but at special school and ARPs place funding is 10k

@Wonderberry cost per year of these provisions

Are there other pupils with similar needs at the school closing down? LEA could buy a portacabin and set up a unit in existing school.
As it is primary you are talking about teacher and Ta maybe. A small group could be different ages.

Get with other parents ask to meet and discuss with lea to find a workable solution for the next year at least

That isn’t SEN it’s behaviour. Why on earth should the tax paper be paying for private education for children like this. My child has an EHCP for SEN. She doesn’t get a private education she has to put up with what the state has to offer.If every child with an EHCP had parents deciding only private education would do the country would be bankrupt.

Bar special schools no private schools should be funded by the state. The government is believed to be considering changes a series of measures designed to prioritise state school provision and cut council spending in costly private specialist needs schools. Long overdue.