Find out what you should consider when choosing a school for your child with Special Needs and if the school is ready to support your child.
Finding and choosing a school for your child might not be easy.
We want to ensure they get the best possible education and that children are well looked after.
After all, children spend lots of time there, away from us.
It might be even more challenging if your child has special needs.
Do you want to know whether the school supports your child well?
How do you know if the school will meet their needs?
How comfortable are you leaving your child with someone who doesn’t really know them?
Or maybe you just wonder if the school your child is already attending is ready to meet their needs and is a good school for them?
Today, I can give you some tips on choosing a school for your child.
I have worked with children with special needs in a primary school.
Some had autism, ADHD, learning difficulties, and developmental delays.
I have observed and watched how it all works.
I am also a mum to two children (one still in primary, the other in secondary school now) and a trained educator.
I can offer you another perspective and tell you what to look for when choosing a school.
Special Needs
Special Educational Needs (SEN) is a broad category, and children in this group are very different.
They might have different needs, disabilities, conditions or impairments, and they are all unique.
Other children might not be diagnosed with anything yet but struggle in school. Read my post ‘7 Reasons your child Struggles in School’ to find out why your child struggles in school.
One size will not fit all when choosing a school for your child.
You must consider your child and their needs and choose what suits THEM.
Some schools might be good for one child and not fit for another.
For example, if your child needs a wheelchair or has a visual impairment, certain schools might not be ready to support them.
Maybe they don’t have a wheelchair ramp or any Braille resources.
So, you must always narrow your search to address your child’s needs.
Mainstream School
So that you know, I will be talking about mainstream schools and the way they can support a child with Special Needs.
What is a mainstream school? It is your “regular” school versus a “specialist provision”, a school that caters for children with special needs only.
Depending on your child’s needs, they might or might not need to be in a special school and will do well in a mainstream school when adequately supported and nurtured.
Bonus
Before we jump into finding out the 9 signs that the school can support your child with special needs, I want to give you a heads up about a little bonus.
At the end of this post, you will find a list of questions you can ask the school while researching them.
You can copy them and send them an e-mail or have a list of questions to ask when you visit the school (about that later).
Now, let’s look at how you will know that the school is ready to support your child.
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1. SENCo / Special Needs Coordinator
To ensure the school is good for your child, you should find out if the school has a SENCO.
Who is SENCO?
It is a special education needs coordinator.
Schools might call them something else in different places.
Still, a dedicated teacher (or other professional) ensures that children with special needs have everything they need.
The coordinator will work with the teachers, parents and outside agencies to make sure everything is in place for a child to meet their needs.
You want to find out if the school has one and who they are.
You might want to ask if they have other roles in school too.
They might be busy juggling other jobs like teaching or doing something else.
In my experience, this is not perfect.
They will have less time for SEN stuff if they have different responsibilities.
You can ask if the SENCO has relevant experience.
It would be perfect if they were qualified in Special Education.
2. School policies
Schools are required by law to be inclusive and to honour diversity, including having Special Needs.
Each school should have their own policy, a statement or report about how they stay inclusive.
This information should be available to everyone, and the chances are that the school’s website is the place to find it.
Reading it, you might learn more about the school’s “offer” to children with Special Needs.
If your child’s behaviour is challenging due to their condition (some ADHD or Autistic children may struggle with behaviour sometimes), it is a good idea to read the school’s behaviour policy too.
3. SEN children
You may want to find out if they have any (and how many) children with Special Needs.
Try to investigate what special needs these children have and what specific support they receive.
The chances are that the school knows what they are doing if there is a variety and a good number of children with Special Needs.
4. Funding
One more sign that the school is ready to support your child with special needs is that they have money to do it.
You can ask the school if they have special funding for SEN children. Most of the schools will.
Schools get money per child, and children with official diagnoses or disabilities get more funding.
I know that the schools must be transparent about their funding and will often publish their budgets or spending online.
If you find this information, try to see what chunk of the school’s money is dedicated to SEN pupils.
This should give you a rough idea of whether their SEN “department” is well funded.
5. Additional or Special Staff
Find out if the school you are researching has additional staff supporting SEN children.
In England, most schools will have Teaching Assistants that help teachers in the classroom.
They often look after SEN children as well.
But many schools have additional personnel.
The names of their roles may vary, but they can be called, for example, learning assistants, inclusion assistants, or pastoral support staff.
Some schools may have their own speech therapist or one coming to school some days of the week.
Speech Therapists in school are invaluable when your child has communication problems (Autism, for example).
6. Leadership
Try to find out how the leadership is structured.
Of course, it depends on the size of the school.
Investigate if there is a main headteacher/ principal and if they are the only ones running the show.
There might be deputies, assistants headteachers, and senior teachers.
Try to see how it is structured and what their roles are. Are they purely administrative, or are they more hands-on with the children?
7. Resources
Another good sign that the school is ready to support your child with special needs is resources.
You want to find out if there is a playground or other outdoor facilities.
Indoors, they might have a sensory, quiet, or maybe a family room.
Names may vary, but it is a special place where a child can go.
Again, it depends on the size of the school.
Try to investigate if the playground is well equipped and if there are additional resources.
They will depend on the child’s needs, for example, ear defenders, special desks or chairs, adjustments for the visually impaired or wheelchairs.
8. Community Links
Good schools may have visiting therapists, educational psychologists, and other specific charity (for example, Autism) workers.
One school where I worked had a residential, full-time person from Families First charity to support school communities and the families that needed help or advice.
Schools may have people from the community come and give courses or workshops for parents or staff.
The more going on, the better- it all means more resources and support for everyone, including your special-needs child.
9. Staff’s CPD
CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development.
Teachers and staff should have ongoing opportunities to get more knowledge, qualifications and training.
A good school will use their Inset days (or Professional Days) when the school is closed for children to provide their staff with training.
They may also offer other training that staff can access during or after work hours.
It might be a good idea then to ask the school what their approach to CPD is.
How can I find all this out? Who do I ask about all this?
We made it through the list of all the indicators that the school might meet your child’s needs.
But you might wonder how you’re supposed to find all that out.
Fear not because schools are usually open about sharing all the information.
They are public institutions funded by public money, so they need to be transparent about what they do.
Website
The school website is a good source, but it might not always be apparent where the information you are looking for is.
You need to explore the website. Take your time doing it.
Look for headings in the menu, like statutory info or policies or reports.
They might often contain boring-looking documents or tables, but this is where the information might be.
You may find their inclusion policy or SEN spending or funding there.
Office
Visit the school’s office and ask them whatever you want to know.
Morning drop-off might not be a good time, as well as pick-up time.
You can always phone ahead and ask if and when you can pop in.
Tour
Ask for a show round or a tour.
If they have places, a school should be happy to do it.
Every pupil means more funding, so they should be willing to show you are around as a potential new “client”.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying schools are all about money and business.
But after all, they need money to run, and more children mean more money as they get funding per child.
So, the school should be happy to have you coming and looking around.
A good, dedicated headteacher might be the one giving you a tour, if possible, rather than delegating someone random.
If you cannot go, e-mail them. Use my list of questions (below) to ask them what you need to know.
Open Evening
Some schools host open evenings where they will have dedicated staff to answer all your questions, and you get to see the school and facilities.
Don’t forget to take the list of questions with you!
Word of mouth
If you know someone with children in the school, it would be a good idea to learn as much as possible from them.
Recommendations from people who have experience with the school will be valuable.
School’s social media
And finally, schools might have social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.).
Have a browse to see if you can find out anything or see their photos to get the “feel” of the school.
Try to pay attention to how inclusive they are.
Are there any SEN children included in their posts?
What else to consider?
Inspections
You may, of course, want to consider any school inspection results.
You would do it anyway, looking for any school, I imagine.
Here in England, every school must be inspected by OFSTED.
Then they might be ranked as outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate school.
I wouldn’t choose a school with anything lower than good.
Here you can find the school’s OFSTED report.
Distance and travel
Another thing you may want to consider is the distance to school, the journey you will be making and the mode of transport you will be using.
Again, keep your child and their needs in mind.
Will you be walking, driving, or taking a bus?
How comfortable will your child be with the way you will get there?
A faraway school might not be a good choice for a child in a wheelchair and a parent who wants to walk to school.
In England, children with SEN can get free school transport if they live far from their nearest school.
My area offers taxis rather than school buses, but it may vary depending on the location.
It would be best if you also researched how to get to school before choosing one.
Question list
Well done for making it to the end of the post.
Before you go, below is a list of the questions you may want to ask the school when you do your research.
Feel free to use them, copy them or modify them to suit you.
- Does the school have SENCO or another Special Needs coordinator? How experienced are they? Or: who will oversee coordinating my child’s resources, interventions and needs?
- What is your inclusion policy, and how do you implement it?
- What is your SEN policy, and how do you implement it?
- What can you tell me about SEN funding in your school?
- Is your staff trained in X (insert your child’s disability or diagnosis, for example, ADHD or dyslexia, diabetes, epilepsy etc.)?
- How many SEN pupils have you got, and what are their diagnoses, needs or disabilities?
- What is your leadership structure?
- What are your facilities and resources for SEN pupils?
- Have your school got additional or specialist staff to support SEN children, and what are their roles?
That’s all from me this time.
I hope you found it all useful. Let me know in the comments if you are happy with how your child’s school supports them.
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