Types

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• Choosing the best schools for special needs
  The Good Schools Guide website currently has reviews of 130 special schools. We are often asked how we arrive at the schools we include, and how we go about the reviews. Put simply, these are the schools that people tell us are doing an exceptional job in their field. That might be parents with children at the school, teachers, or professionals such as visiting therapists and educational psychologists. And we have a team of regional editors with a hotline to school gate conversations
• Right to a five day education post-16
  We’ve heard of a number of cases where youngsters with special needs who are over 16 have been told their timetable will be reduced as a result of cuts. If you are in this situation, there may be a legal remedy.
• New school reviews from our SEN team
  It wasn’t hard to turn up the heat on heads when visits late last term were mainly carried out in 30 degree temperatures. In our latest batch of reviews we discovered what you can teach when you teach a man to fish, that blind children can excel at photography, and who makes the best chips in Worcestershire.
• Dyscalculia figures don’t add up
  The prevalence of dyscalculia – a specific learning disorder in maths – could be just as high as for dyslexia, researchers have found. The study by Queen’s University Belfast looked at the maths performance of 2,400 pupils over a number of years, and found that 112 pupils may have dyscalculia – similar to the expected rate of occurrence of dyslexia. But while 100 of the group had been diagnosed with dyslexia, only one had been identified with dyscalculia.
• Need to know
  A school for young people over sixteen with special educational needs and disabilities has been approved by Southwark Council. It will be based at Bishops House, and aims to help young people prepare them for the world of work through training and work experience placements.
• Ofsted promises to judge schools by their SEND provision
  The experience of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is a bellwether of the school’s performance,’ says Ofsted inspector and SEND specialist adviser Nick Whittaker.
• Ofsted Watch: Our pick of the new reports
  Star performers We’re offering you two for one this time, in recognition of two new schools which have pulled off the feat of an outstanding in their first inspection. Aurora Hanley School in Stoke on Trent caters for pupils of 6-19 with autism. Ofsted says: ‘Incidents of poor behaviour are diminishing quickly as pupils gain confidence and self-esteem. Pupils make very strong progress from their starting points. Leaders keep the school open at some points in the holidays for pupils to ‘keep in touch’. They acknowledge that many of their pupils are capable of academic qualifications and this is their aim.’