Understanding what support is available for children and young adults with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities can be difficult.
In this section, we’ve collected lots of helpful information, guidance and links to help.
Alternative Provision is for children who are unable to access mainstream education for a variety of reasons. The Department for Education describes it as:
‘…education arranged by local authorities for pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education; education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed period exclusion; and pupils being directed by schools to off-site provision to improve their behaviour.’
Guardians can also pay privately for AP and schools can also arrange and fund this – though doing this is at the discretion of the school.
Participants may attend AP full time or part time. If the provision is part time, then the rest of their learning will take place in their usual school where they will remain on roll. If full time, then they must receive an equivalent full-time education to their peers in mainstream schools.
While some children benefit from staying in alternative provision until they finish compulsory education, many will return to mainstream school, be it after weeks, months or even years.
Alternative provision can be delivered in several different settings, including but not limited to:
There are three main ways in which a child might be transferred to alternative provision:
You will need to contact the AP provider to discuss prices and to get a quote (as this will vary from setting to setting.) Schools and guardians may need to pay privately, though your Local Education Authority may fund the provision if it is a registered AP provider and there is enough evidence regarding the participants need for AP.
There are many other reasons why a child might attend alternative provision, such as:
Around 40% of pupils in alternative provision are primary school age, and the majority are boys.
When challenging behaviour becomes frequent and difficult to deal with it can start to affect daily life. The occasional tantrum or emotional outburst is normal, but if it starts to affect family dynamics, work at school or mental health, then perhaps it’s time to seek guidance. Examples of challenging behaviour can include:
The way your child behaves is a communication about how they’re feeling.
When your child is acting out, it can be helpful to think about the image of an iceberg. We only see the top of an iceberg because most of it is underwater. Similarly, when your child is behaving in challenging ways, there will be feelings going on under the surface that you cannot see. Your child may not be aware of these feelings and may need your help to talk about them.
Underneath their behaviour, a child or young person may be feeling angry, tired, stressed, anxious, confused, hurt, jealous, bored or something else. Whatever’s going on, try to remember that the behaviour you see on the surface is not the whole story.
1.Counselling or Therapy – Speaking to your GP is usually the first step to accessing counselling or therapy through the NHS. Your GP can help by:
You can speak to your GP to ask for advice with or without your child.
2.Get Support from School
Follow these steps to start a conversation with the school:
Sometimes, children and young people behave in challenging ways when they have an additional need, neurodiverse condition, learning disability or developmental difficulty that has not been recognised. This can include dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, ADHD, or difficulties hearing or speaking. In this situation, they may be acting out because their needs are not understood at home or school.
If you think your child might have an additional need, speak to your GP, or to your child’s teacher, pastoral lead or SENCO. They can make a referral for an assessment. It’s helpful to make a log of the behaviour you have noticed so that you can provide evidence when communicating with professionals.
If your child is diagnosed with an additional need, you can ask the professionals supporting them about parenting strategies that will best suit them.
EHCP stands for Education, Health and Care plan. It is a plan for children and young adults who need more support than the initial internal school provision. An EHCP lasts until they are 25 years old. Young people can apply for an assessment themselves if they are between the ages of 16 and 25 years.
This is a legally binding document that outlines the child or teenager’s educational, health and social care needs. The document must provide the provision that meets each of the child’s needs. The provision must be detailed, specific and achievable. The plan will name the school/setting that will provide the provision, and this is legally enforceable. The Local Education Authority (LEA) will look at the needs of your family and they do not necessarily need a diagnosis to agree to an EHCP.
By law all mainstream nurseries and schools must provide some support for special educational needs. For your child to get an EHCP you must show that:
A school will not always need an EHCP plan to give your child the support they need. If your child’s needs are met with an internal Individual Education Plan, you may not need an EHCP.
Any parent can request an EHC assessment, but this can also be requested by a Doctor, Health Visitor, or a school staff member. It is better if you can work as a team as you will be able to collate more evidence. Here are some useful steps:
1-6 Weeks
The LEA will process your application. You will receive a letter from the LEA with a decision about your request. If they decline, they will explain why. You can then either accept the decision or appeal it. You can also request a meeting with an LEA officer. Find out here what to do if you want to appeal against their decision.
6-12 Weeks
If the submission is approved, you have 6 weeks to provide any further evidence or information that the LEA requests. This time scale is a legal requirement. If the information is received, the LEA must reach a decision by Week 12.
13 – 16 Weeks
By week 12 the LEA has decided to issue an EHCP. The draft version must be issued by Week 14. A copy will be sent to you and any other professionals involved. Once the draft has been issued the parents and school have 15 days in which to respond, and to name the setting which will be meeting the needs set out in the EHCP draft. By Week 12, if the decision was not to issue a draft EHCP then the parents must be informed and given the right to appeal by week 16.
17- 20 Weeks
Between Week 17 and 20, the LEA should issue the final EHCP. The 20-week deadline is a legal deadline and any extension beyond this deadline is limited to specific exceptions.
EOTAS stands for Education other than at School. EOTAS is the legal mechanism whereby a child or young person with an EHCP can receive special educational provision despite being unable to attend an educational setting. Under a formal EOTAS arrangement, the child or young person will not be required to be on the roll of, or in attendance at, a “traditional” educational setting.
Your LEA is placed under an absolute legal obligation to make sure a child or young person receives all of the provision contained in Section F of their EHCP, unless the circumstances in Section 42(5) are met. Section 42(5) says the obligation is on the LA to provide the EHCP provision unless “the child’s parents or the young person has made suitable alternative arrangements.”
In summary, EOTAS is a formal special education package made under an EHC Plan, for which the local authority remains legally responsible.
To access EOTAS, provision must be in Section F of your child’s EHCP. It is this section that is legally binding.
All provision should be written into the EHCP with such a level of specificity that it leaves no room for doubt exactly what provision should be delivered.
This is especially important in EOTAS cases, as there are inherent organisational difficulties that can arise when all elements of education are being sourced individually by different external providers. You must be absolutely clear on the provision that should be in place, so you can enforce it if it doesn’t materialise.
Examples of EOTAS provision could be:
An EOTAS package must not be confused with choosing to Electively Home School your child.
When requesting an EOTAS package from the Local Authority, you will need to provide a fully costed package of the provisions you are seeking for your child.
To aid you in costing your EOTAS package, you should create a full timetable of what you plan for your child. For example, when requesting Maths and English tutoring, you will need to specify the tutoring. How many hours of tutoring are you requesting each day? Which subjects are you seeking for your child to be tutored in? What provision is necessary for your child? How should this provision be implemented?
You must have evidence from an expert. If you do not have expert evidence, your EOTAS request is unlikely to succeed.
If your request for EOTAS is successful, you will need to negotiate the EOTAS package with the Local Authority.
You will be supported and guided by one of our amazing mentors. Usually, you will have the same person for every session so that you can get to know and trust them over time. However, on the very rare occasion that they are ill or can’t attend, you will be given plenty of warning and will be told who you are going to be with instead. We will send you a photo of this person and will also tell you their name.
We are very flexible though, and if you only want your usual mentor, we can delay sessions to make you feel more comfortable.
Click here to learn about who our staff are.
You will be learning about our ponies and how to look after them. Each session will be about something different, from Grooming through to Anatomy.
We always do hands on things with our animals during each session, and then a little bit of practical work to ensure you can remember it. If you find that something is easy, we will move onto the next thing, but if something is tricky then we will take as long as you need, and we are happy to go at your pace.
Sometimes it gets a bit muddy in Winter, so it’s a good idea to come in wellies and warmer clothes (as we like to be outdoors as much as we can!) In Summer, wear a sun hat and pop some suncream on. It’s also sensible to wear sturdy closed to shoes, or trainers.
That’s okay! We know that sometimes doing new things is hard, or if we are very anxious, going out can feel like a big challenge. Just tell your guardian and they can tell us; it’s all about communication.
We will work with you to get you through it. We can shorten sessions or adapt to your needs. Remember that the ponies are there to help you feel good.
Most of the time you will be with your mentor around the ponies. So that will be down at their turnout pens, or at the yard where their stables are.
Sometimes we will be in the classrooms which have a nice cozy sensory corner, a sofa and our own Interactive White Board to do some fun activities!
Our classrooms have their own toilets including disabled facilities. We will show you where to go, and depending on how old you are, we will wait with you.
We passionately believe in the vital importance of safeguarding in order to provide a safe, welcoming environment to all people.
At the Keysoe Therapy & Well-Being Centre, all of our staff hold Enhanced DBS Checks, First Aid, Animal Assisted Therapy and Safeguarding Certificates.
For more information, you can read our extensive safeguarding policy using the button below.