Since coming into power, this Government has offered little genuine engagement with the special school sector. This became painfully clear on 23rd February with the publication of the Schools White Paper and SEND Consultation.
While we have long supported the ambition for mainstream schools to be more inclusive and welcoming to a wider range of children, this cannot come by quietly downgrading the vital role of special schools. The vision set out for special schools - that they should be supported to support mainstream schools - is not wrong, but without concrete detail or investment, it remains a long-held wish rather than a practical reality. Opportunities to invest in innovation and collaboration, which could benefit a wider range of children, have been missed.
NASS stands firm that it will not allow the specialist sector, or the children and families that depend on it, to be treated as an afterthought. Our message to the Government is simple: if you want a system that works, start with meaningful engagement with the special school sector rather than attacking the fact that it exists. Stop bending the narrative to fit political objectives. Start grounding policy in evidence and in the lived experiences of families and professionals.
As a membership organisation representing all types of special schools, NASS is proud to amplify the voices of our leaders. Here is what some of them have told us this week...
Sue Ackroyd is CEO and Executive Principal at William Henry Smith Foundation, which includes a Non-Maintained Special School & Sixth Form, Specialist College, and Children’s Home, Boothroyd.
But inclusion must not mean dilution. For children with complex, co-occurring and often rare needs, personalised and legally protected support is essential. Our children present unique profiles of strength and need; they cannot be neatly categorised by diagnosis, funding band, or threshold criteria. They deserve provision shaped around the whole child, not a system that forces them into reductive labels.
Funding reform and changes to EHCPs must not weaken the precision, integration, and specialist expertise these children rely on.
Our maintained, non-maintained and independent special schools are not on the margins of inclusion, they are central to it. A strong system depends on a genuine continuum of provision, with specialist and mainstream settings working in partnership, supported by sustained investment. Our special schools have always worked alongside mainstream colleagues and local partners, not for remuneration, but because we believe in shared responsibility and better outcomes for all children, wherever they are educated and cared for. The cost of specialist provision is often viewed narrowly. In reality, specialist schools deliver far more than education alone: integrated health and therapy services, multidisciplinary expertise, and sustained support for families. When understood in full, this offer represents long-term value, reducing crisis intervention, strengthening family stability, and improving life chances. The social return on investment is significant, reflected in greater independence, participation, and meaningful contribution to society over time.
Reform will only succeed if it is shaped by lived experience and professional expertise. The task is clear: build a system that adapts to children — all children — not one that expects children to adapt to the system.
Emily Hopkins-Hayes is Executive Leader for Education at MacIntyre Academies which is Multi-Academy Trust for special schools and specialist alternative provision.
The long-anticipated release of the White Paper, published alongside the proposed SEND reforms is of course welcome. However, it is critical that the national conversation continues and the consultation is responded to by everyone involved in the receipt or delivery of SEND provision of all types from that delivered in mainstream, through to that for our most complex and vulnerable children and young people. The next 11 weeks are a vital period for their voices to be heard and the department to reflect on some of the assumptions the papers have seemingly been built upon that do not fully consider the diversity of the sector and the difference it makes to individuals, their families and the wider public.
Whilst we all want public funds to be used in the most efficient way, this cannot limit the opportunity for every child with SEND to shape and receive provision that gives them the best possible life chances and is built on the highest possible ambitions for their success now and into adulthood. The rights of children and young people to access the best quality of provision that can meet their individual needs must be kept central to dialogue and decision making always.
Jolanta Lasota is Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism and the Ambitious about Autism Schools Trust. The charity offers, education, support and advocacy for autistic children and young people. It runs three schools – two Special Academies and one Non-Maintained Special School.
We welcome the ambition of making mainstream education more inclusive, but this must not be at the expense of the specialist sector. While the majority of autistic pupils attend mainstream schools, there will always be those who need a specialist environment to thrive.
Specialist settings have much expertise to share but if they are expected to build capacity in mainstream settings, they must be properly resourced to do so.
We also need to see tangible evidence of improvement in mainstream schools before any attempt is made to change or remove children and families’ existing rights and protections.
Tracie Coultas-Pitman is CEO of BeyondAutism. The charity runs two independent special schools, both of which have been rated as outstanding by Ofsted – Park House School and Tram House School.
Defining achievement for children through an exams lens or whether they are in a mainstream school, is insulting and dismissive of the outstanding progress every learner makes in our special schools. That we live in a society that belittles achievement without qualifications, is a damning indictment and further hampers the potential outcomes for children with SEND and their attempts to be ambitious, active citizens. Don’t dismiss our learners because they don’t have a GSCE, be prepared to be amazed with what they can offer and with what they want to achieve. Let’s spend time creating a workforce and utilising environments that can include all, raising societal expectation way beyond simply being “mainstream”.
Jack Birkenhead is Headteacher of Roselyn House School, an Independent Special School in Lancashire, which offers a specific individual and personalised education for young people, 10-19 with EHC Plans for Social, Emotional and Mental Health, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Specific Learning Difficulties.
The ambition within the Schools White Paper and SEND consultation to create a more inclusive and supportive SEND system is encouraging, particularly the focus on early identification, workforce development and strengthening mainstream provision. Recognising the strain on the current system and seeking to provide earlier, more consistent support offers genuine hope for children and families. If backed by sustained investment and thoughtful implementation, these reforms could improve both experiences and outcomes. However, expectations must be communicated clearly and applied consistently. Transparency and accountability are essential for meaningful reform, and schools cannot be placed under further pressure through blurred lines of responsibility or vague commitments.
At the same time, reform must protect the legal rights families rely upon and be underpinned by adequate, long-term funding. Support for young people with SEND should never be framed as being in tension with financial sustainability, their needs are not a cost burden but a shared responsibility and an investment in the future. Efforts to promote inclusion must also be authentic. Merely labelilnglabelling a setting as inclusive, when it lacks the resources and capacity to address complex needs, risks creating inclusion in name only rather than in meaningful practice.
Special schools, both maintained and non-maintained, offer children and their families far more than education alone, they provide expertise, stability and for many, a lifeline. True inclusion means putting the child first, beyond labels, structures or buzzwords and ensuring that provision genuinely meets need rather than simply appearing to do so on paper.
Dan Tresman is CEO of Light Years Education, an Ofsted rated Outstanding Independent Special School in Hampshire
All educators will agree with the notion that a more inclusive education system is better for all pupils. However, we cannot achieve that by alienating an entire sector - namely special schools. Special schools have been a lifeline for thousands of children and families, providing huge social and societal value to communities over the last decade and alienating them now risks undermining what works in the system.
It sits uncomfortably, that of the main destinations being proposed for SEND pupils that require initial specialist support are ‘inclusion bases’ which in practice sound a lot like ‘exclusion' bases. The bases will seemingly depend on the existing school’s capacity in terms of physical space and the quality of teaching & investment, meaning they will not end the ‘SEND postcode lottery’ but are likely to increase it. SEND pupils have the right to a full and ambitious curriculum and a sense of belonging. Being forced to be educated in a separate part of a school, rather than alongside their peers, is not inclusive and potentially harmful.
The headlines of these SEND reforms might sound positive, but when placed within the operational workings of mainstream and special school environments, they are fraught with alarming realities which risk negatively impacting a whole generation of children.