CHOOSING THE RIGHT SCHOOL OR COLLEGE
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Quiz them on what they know about your child’s condition. The bad ones can be surprisingly ignorant You are entitled to name a school in another local authority, if you can’t find one suitable in your own. Be warned though that your local authority will try to resist this because it costs them more.
Parents often prefer to keep their child in a mainstream setting.
curriculum offer and qualifications they can sit through continuous assessment. Of course, school isn’t all about learning. When it comes to the playground, younger mainstream kids are happy to get along with anyone, but as they get older, when conformity is all, bullying of anyone different becomes a sad reality. Even when children have greater learning challenges, parents often prefer the idea of keeping the child in a mainstream world. However, sometimes inclusion means quite the opposite. Your child can end up being taught alone in a corner or separate room for large parts of the day by an unqualified classroom assistant. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, because it depends entirely on the quality of the mainstream options in your area, and what the special school alternatives are.
State or independent mainstream? Some parents of children with SEN are drawn to independent schools because of the smaller class sizes and a seemingly gentler atmosphere. However, most independent mainstreams are only prepared to consider children with the mildest needs and they are free to turn away your child. Some actively allocate a few places to children with SEN, or will look at each child to see whether WWW.SENMAGAZINE.CO.UK
they can help. These places are usually snapped up quickly and can be hard to come by. Generally, independent schools are more willing to consider children with SEN in Key Stage 1, and less so when the curriculum becomes more demanding. In rare cases, parents have been able to get local authority funding for private school places, when they can prove the state option isn’t suitable. State mainstream schools have an obligation to take children with SEN and make appropriate adaptations for them. The only grounds on which they can refuse your child is where it would interfere with the efficient education of other children, or not be cost-effective. However you need to choose your mainstream carefully; some heads pay only lip service to their legal obligations, while others are genuinely interested in catering for children of all abilities. If your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, you can take priority for a place at the state school of your choosing, ahead of people who otherwise have a higher stake through living nearer or other admissions criteria. If you are applying to schools for the peak Reception and Year 7 entries, you need to talk to your local authority’s SEN department several months ahead of the application deadlines to ensure your priority place.
Finding a good mainstream The quality of support on offer in mainstream schools can be extremely variable, and a school that doesn’t know what it’s doing, where you have to be constantly on top of them, is not a good option. There are two key people in a mainstream school who will almost entirely shape how good the SEN provision is: the headteacher and the SENCO (special educational needs coordinator). Book a private appointment with them; don’t be fobbed off with the open day. Quiz them on what they know about your child’s condition. The bad ones can be surprisingly ignorant. One parent reported that the SENCO had asked her what global development delay was. The parent was flabbergasted that someone in the business could know so little, especially when there’s a big clue in the name. Ask them about children with a similar profile that they have in the school (and be wary if yours would be the only one). Find out about the progress made by these children; if the school is doing a good job, those with SEN should be progressing at the same rate (that is in the same increments, if not at the same level) as the other children. A head who is zealous about raising the academics is generally one to steer clear of. You can tell where their >>
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