We are yet to come across a family who does not want the very best school for their child, but it is never truer than in the case of families whose child has a special educational needs or disability (SEND).
In many ways we are very lucky that we live in much more enlightened times than even 20 years ago and, particularly since the Equality Act of 2010, much more has been done to support students and their teachers in schools and there is far greater understanding of the need to ensure that as many children as possible are able to access a full school curriculum. Believe it or not, there is not a school in the country that does not have pupils who require some kind of extra support, the issue however is that sadly the quality of that support can vary hugely from school to school.
Over the last couple of years, appropriate provision for children with SEN has become something of an issue in the State sector, where budgets are increasingly being cut and the numbers in the classroom increase, and particularly as a knock on effect from Lockdown and the Pandemic, we have seen an increase in the number of children who are struggling to keep up and who are being advised that they might do better in the Independent sector with smaller classes and higher levels of teacher support. Unfortunately, however it is frequently not as simple as that, particularly in cases where the place at the Independent school is reliant on funding from the Local Authority through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Similarly, contrary to popular belief, many Independent schools are not able to provide the high levels of Learning Support Assistants in class with the teachers and so unless your child is able to access most of the curriculum themselves, with relatively minor changes made to accommodate them, the chances are that an Independent school would feel unable to accept him or her.
That is not to say that there are not a number of excellent Independent schools that provide specialist support for a wide range of needs, such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia for example, but again, as with any specialism, the school would need to assess the student through Educational Psychologist and medical reports as appropriate in order to determine that they can meet his/her needs.
Our expert at Debrett’s Education has extensive knowledge of SEND provision in the Independent school sector and would be very happy to speak to you in the first instance to see if there is a possibility that this could be the best solution for your child. Similarly, we have a number of associates we can recommend, in the field of Education Advocacy and Educational Psychology as well as the writing of EHCPs should you need to go down that route.
