The classroom within All Saints Catholic college, west London, looks much like any other classroom. But this one offers a solution to England’s crisis in special needs education.
On one recent summer day the class was doing creative writing. Yet with every pupil having special needs in speech and communication, writing is just one part of the lesson. “Remember to reply to me,” the teacher gently reminds one pupil after discussing their work. “When I say something, you need to reply.”
Later a pupil starts “stimming” – self-stimulating by repetitive movements, often seen among children with autism – but is quickly interrupted by the teacher. “Do you need time out?” she asks quietly.
The classroom, known as the Bethlehem unit, has the rows of desks and whiteboard of a typical school but only eight pupils, who all have education, health and care plans (EHCPs), formal agreements between families and local authorities that detail each child’s needs.
The fate of EHCPs has been thrust into the political spotlight, after ministers refused to confirm reports that they will be curtailed or abolished. Although its official title is a “specialist resource provision”, the Bethlehem unit is, in effect, a mini special school inside a mainstream secondary – a model that ministers are pinning their hopes on as they prepare a new schools white paper for October.
Ria Dhillon, whose son Kai has attended the unit, said the school had been “wonderful”, nudging him to reach his potential in subjects such as maths in which he had previously lacked confidence.
“What we’ve got here, in the Bethleham unit, finds out what they are good at and pushes them. Whereas in a lot of other schools that don’t have these facilities for kids with EHCPs, they seem to get left behind. Quiet children get left at the back,” Dhillon said.
Konstantina Pistola, a teacher in the Bethlehem unit, said: “We want our children to be fully part of the school community. We’re trying to build as much independence as possible so that they are ready for society.”
With the number of school-age children with EHCPs in England rising to more than 480,000 this year, central and local governments have struggled to keep up, with severe shortages of special school places and long delays causing anger among parents about how their children are being treated.
The ballooning number of EHCPs has also created a financial timebomb for councils. Most funding for special educational needs (SEN) provision comes via local authority high-needs budgets but those have been in deficit for years, with the combined shortfall estimated to now be £5bn. The only thing keeping more councils from outright insolvency has been the government allowing them to keep these deficits off their balance sheets.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has repeatedly said the government needs to “think differently” about special needs provision. Exactly what Phillipson means is not yet clear. The details are still being thrashed out in Whitehall, with the Treasury taking a close interest in the cost implications, and the Department for Education (DfE) struggling internally to develop coherent policy after years of neglect.
It seems likely that EHCPs will not survive in their current form, with existing plans phased out over two or more years. Ministers and officials argue that a better solution is for mainstream state schools to educate more children with special needs. That is where All Saints’ Bethlehem unit comes in.
While some mainstream state schools have SEN units or specialist provision, what makes All Saints unusual is the high number of its 900 pupils who have EHCPs. The percentage is about 2% for the average school in England.
Andrew O’Neill, All Saints’ headteacher, said: “If we look at this school, about 10% of our children have EHCPs, that’s one of highest rates in the country for a mainstream secondary. It means that this school has to be set up to work for all children of all needs. We have to make sure that they can succeed.”
O’Neill said the “morally right” approach was for every school to enable pupils with special needs and disabilities to access the same teaching, schoolwork and activities as their peers. “It’s about raising attainment and supporting them as well as showing that you have high aspirations for these pupils,” O’Neill said.
“You’ve got to have high standards, the pupils deserve that from the point of view of dignity. High standards should go hand in hand with a joyful experience of school.”
O’Neill has now been appointed as Phillipson’s special adviser on schools on a 12-month secondment that the DfE said will bring “frontline expertise directly into the heart of policymaking”.
Pistola explains that the Bethlehem unit can offer specialist provision to children with a wide range of conditions including autism and ADHD.
“We have to tackle each student’s individual needs. For example some students have lots of energy and we have to recognise that, while others want quiet. We are able to be more flexible around student behaviour,” Pistola said.
While some pupils have all their teaching within the unit, those able to study GCSE-level subjects such as sciences or maths are taught in mainstream classes, where All Saints’ innovative structure means they receive help from academic support assistants (ASAs), used in place of traditional teaching assistants to support SEN pupils.
O’Neill said: “Academic support assistants are experts in their subjects, while teaching assistants are typically attached to a single student and follow them through every lesson. The ASAs can offer more technical help for their subjects rather than just for one person.”
Chester Smith, a recent graduate who has joined All Saints as an ASA, said he would typically be in a lesson overseeing pupils who need support, checking their understanding, and working with those who were unable to be in the classroom.
“Most often within the class I’m circulating, making sure I talk to the key students I need to talk to first. I’m operating around the room and I can reach more students than a typical teaching assistant,” Smith said.
“There are some kids who can be really challenging but I’ve enjoyed it more than I expected – the work is so stretching and fast-paced.”
Charlotte Healy, whose son Jamal has an EHCP, says she appreciates many of the small things that All Saints is able to do, with teachers on hand at the end of the school day to direct children home through the busy streets of west London, as well as giving regular updates on their progress.
“For parents like us, you’re constantly thinking: are they OK? Are they getting on? Are they making friends, are they with the rest of their peers? That’s a big thing for parents of children with education and health care plans,” said Healy.
“When you do find an environment like this, where it is really good and with the staff to help them grow, you know they care because you get those phone calls and the updates, which are so lovely to hear.”
