Schools From Scratch

1Schools from ScratchAn essential guide to setting up a special school

Based on the experiences of six parent-founded schools for children with autism

I dont know how we did it. It was a bit like a wave; it just took you and somehow we came out the other end breathing.

I always think I wouldnt go back there for anything. That says how hard it is. But having said that, I think it is achievable. No regrets. Id recommend anyone to do it. But its tough.

2683_schools_from_scratch.indd 12683_schools_from_scratch.indd 1 19/01/2009 11:5819/01/2009 11:58

Schools from ScratchAn essential guide to setting up a special school

3

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who helped compile this guide. The six schools that form the bulk of the case study material have all been set up by parents since 1997. Several others are following their example, including schools in North West England, Ireland and the Netherlands. The six in the guide are, as far as we are aware, the oldest of what has been a succession of schools and units for children with autism in the UK, set up by parents and committed to adopting the principles of ABA.

These are:

Chrysaliswww.chrysalisschool.orgEmail: [email protected] or [email protected] charity number: 1101424

The Jigsaw CABAS School www.jigsawschool.co.ukEmail: [email protected] charity number: 1075464

Questwww.questschool.co.ukEmail: [email protected] charity number: 1106112

Rainbowwww.rainbowcharity.org.ukEmail: [email protected] charity number: 1082599

Step by Stepwww.stepbystepschool.org.ukEmail: dfi [email protected] charity number: 1091258

TreeHousewww.treehouse.org.ukEmail: [email protected] charity number: 1063184

As special thank you also goes to Virginia Bovell OBE, a TreeHouse founding parent and advisor who has donated considerable time to the research, writing and design of this guide.

Thank you also to the following donors who have funded the production of this guide: Awards for All Lloyds Charities Trust The Persula Foundation The Steel Charitable Trust



Disclaimer

This is intended as an introductory guide, but it does not constitute an offi cial advice tool nor a defi nitive list of recommendations.

The information contained is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate and up to date at the time of writing (2008) but we appreciate that our own circumstances may change in the future, just as the legal and institutional requirements contained in the following pages are likely to be updated or even altered radically due to the introduction of new government policies and procedures.

We would therefore strongly recommend to anyone embarking on starting their own school that they carry out their own research in all the areas covered in this guide.



5

ContentsAcknowledgements 3Disclaimer 4

1. Introduction 71.1 How to Use this Guide ............................................................................................................................................... 71.2 The purpose of this guide .......................................................................................................................................... 71.3 Partnership approaches ............................................................................................................................................. 71.4 The Pembrokeshire ABA Project the model parents have been longing for? .................................................. 8

2. What and who is involved at the very beginning? 92.1 How founding parents met and were recruited ....................................................................................................... 92.2 The skills for start-up ............................................................................................................................................... 10

2.2.1 The start-up committee 102.2.2 Professional services and fees 112.2.3 Pro-bono assistance 11

2.3 Governance: Trustees/Governors/Directors and proprietors .............................................................................. 112.3.1 Should we become a charity and a company limited by guarantee? 112.3.2 Directors/trustees/proprietors 122.3.4 Separating charitable trust from school governing body 12

2.4 Who will fund the pupils places? ........................................................................................................................... 13

3 The business case 143.1 What is your vision and mission? ........................................................................................................................... 143.2 Points to address ..................................................................................................................................................... 15

3.2.1 The local need 153.2.2 Dialogue with local authorities 153.2.3 Number of purchasing authorities 15

3.3 Who are the potential pupils?.................................................................................................................................. 163.4 Finding premises ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

3.4.1 Start-up locations 173.4.2 Premises in the longer term 18

3.5 Initial outlay and fundraising ................................................................................................................................... 183.5.1 Ways of fundraising 193.5.2 Resourcing 193.5.3 Charity law and best practice 20

3.6 Publicity ..................................................................................................................................................................... 203.7 Potential allies .......................................................................................................................................................... 21

3.7.1 Councillors 213.7.2 MPs 213.7.3 Local health service 213.7.4 Infl uential local organisations 213.7.5 The National Autistic Society 213.7.6 National education charities 223.7.7 Involving celebrities? 22

4. Early decisions you will need to take prior to registration 234.1 What type of school? ................................................................................................................................................ 234.2 School leadership, staffi ng and administrative issues ........................................................................................ 23

4.2.1 School leadership 234.2.2 Ongoing role for parents 254.2.3 Role of qualifi ed teachers 254.2.4 Expertise in ABA 264.2.5 Expertise in SEN law 26



4.2.6 Recruitment and staff remuneration 264.2.7 Financial systems and setting up payroll 274.2.8 Length of school day and school year 27

4.3 Identifying the pupils (at start-up and longer-term) .............................................................................................. 284.3.1 How many pupils, what age range? 284.3.2 Advertising for pupils 29

4.4 Premises .................................................................................................................................................................... 294.4.1 What are the regulations? 294.4.2 Fire regulations 294.4.3 Health and safety 30

4.5 School fees and fi nancing the organisation .......................................................................................................... 304.5.1 Calculating the average cost of a place 304.5.2 Deciding on approach to pupil by pupil vs general fee levels 314.5.3 Is it possible to subsidise places via fundraising? 314.5.4 Gauging the local market 324.5.5 Fee increases over time 324.5.6 The National Contract 32

5. The work involved in registering as a school 335.1 Registering as a school ............................................................................................................................................ 335.2 What is involved in registering and how long does it take? ................................................................................ 335.3 Policies and information to parents and prospective parents ............................................................................. 335.4 Curriculum policy, schemes of work and assessment methods ......................................................................... 345.5 Recruitment and child protection .......................................................................................................................... 35

5.5.1 Criminal Records Bureau checks 355.5.2 Additional child protection safeguards 35

6. When the school has opened: Things to plan for 366.1 Inspections and information required by government ......................................................................................... 36

6.1.1 Inspections 366.1.2 Informing the DCSF of changes 36

6.2 Things to plan for ...................................................................................................................................................... 366.2.1 Growth 366.2.2 Relationships 376.2.3 Staffi ng and organisational structure 376.2.4 Revisiting your strategy 37

6.3 Accessing useful resources and networks ............................................................................................................ 376.3.1 Local Lending Resource Libraries 376.3.2 NAS Partners in Autism 37

7. Concluding remarks 38

Glossary 39Education sources and organisations 41Schools and units mentioned in this guide 43Charity and fundraising resources and organisations 43



7

1. Introduction

1.1 How to Use this Guide

Please note there is a glossary at the back for all the abbreviations and terms that might be unfamiliar (see p.39)

several sources of support and information are contained in the main body of the text there is a summary list of these sources at the back (see p.41) which also contains additional resources that you are advised to have

1.2 The purpose of this guide

The past decade has seen a wave of parent-founded special schools for children with autism. These schools have often been a response to the parents belief that the alternatives available for their children are not going to meet their needs. They do not refl ect a belief that parent-founded schools are a general solution. Rather, they are indicative of a last-resort option.

Setting up a school is something that may cross many peoples minds, but what, really, is involved? This guide aims to give an introductory picture of the issues you will need to address, some of the details and some of the obstacles you may confront, so that you can decide if it is an option you wish to investigate thoroughly. As an introduction, it will also sign-post you to other sources of more detailed information.

All the schools and units involved in preparing this guide are day schools (additional requirements for boarding schools are therefore not covered) established by parents. They have been established to provide a UK-based education in which the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) are systematically used to teach children with autism. But you will see that not all have approached things in the same way, and it is important to recognise that there is no blueprint each situation is unique.

However, this guide may be useful for you even if you are trying to do something different for a different client group, using a different approach.

But remember Setting up a school is not always the solution. Working with a Local Authority (LA) to encourage them to establish a new provision may be a more appropriate route, both for your child and for other children in your area.

Alternatively, if the local conditions are not right for example, if your LA is unwilling to open its own unit, if you dont fi nd a likeminded group of co-founders to set up independently, if the funding and organisational requirements are too burdensome (see particularly section 3 for a fundraising reality check about premises), and so on then you should see this not as a failure but as a realistic assessment of the situation you are in. Many parents have considered the possibility of setting up a school, and then chosen alternatives: either through focused work with a local school, to ensure that their childs experience there is as good as it can be, or home education. For further information about home education try Education Otherwise (www.education-otherwise.org), which also has a Yahoo group, and www.home-education.org.uk, which has a web-ring. You can also check the EOTAS (Education Other Than At School) services available locally.

There is no single right way. This guide will help you decide whether setting up a school from scratch is the right route for you.

1.3 Partnership approaches

For information about how to infl uence local authorities and other stakeholders, see Constructive Campaigning for Autism Services: the PACE Parents Handbook.



Examples of the partnership route to setting up a new school or unit include: the ABA unit attached to Westwood mainstream primary school in North Wales, which is a cooperative venture between the school, two local authorities, local health boards and Bangor University

a partnership between the parent charity SPEAC, the local education and library board, and Tor Bank special school, combined with consultancy input from TreeHouse, which led to the establishment of a three-year pilot ABA unit based at Tor Bank

the new initiative in Wales Pembrokeshire ABA Project which is described below as a stand-alone case study

Treetops School for children aged two to 19 years, which is a LA provision using the principles of ABA (Verbal Behaviour). It is an outstanding example of parents, a LA and a local Special School working together to achieve something new and inspirational for children with autism

1.4 The Pembrokeshire ABA Project the model parents have been longing for?

Several of the schools in this guide have felt they were swimming against the tide and having to fi ght for their existence if not in defi ance of their LAs, then certainly with a sense that it would be an uphill struggle to get LA support. The parents involved have felt forced to undertake an enormous task because no-one else was doing it.

The Pembrokeshire ABA Project could hardly be more different, in that the initiative has come not from parents but from enthusiastic ABA practitioners in collaboration with the LA.

The impetus came when the two practitioners, who are also studying for their BCBA at Cardiff University, visited Treetops with a teacher in a LA autism unit. Inspired by what they saw, they approached their local Community Regeneration Department, with a county councillor, then a cabinet member and fi nally the Director of Education. Following a series of meetings, they were asked by the LA to lead the establishment of a local unit to meet the needs of four children under fi ve, and four over fi ve. Long term it is anticipated that the unit will also provide outreach to existing special needs provision and mainstream schools.

A local community council were already involved in a community development so it was relatively straightforward for the additional premises for the unit to be incorporated into that. The school will rent the space from a local community group. The Welsh Assembly are funding the community projects planning application. Some fundraising may be required to kit out the building but salaries and pupil fees will be covered by the LA.

The centre will be run by the two practitioners, with highly-trained lead therapists heading each section. The LA has expressed a desire for the unit to be an outreach of an existing local school, therefore the issue of additional teaching qualifi cations has not been raised.

It is estimated that the whole initiative, between initial visit to Treetops and the opening of the unit, will have taken four to fi ve years.

In March 2008, the project organisers reported that they had recently started bringing the children who were currently on home programmes together occasionally during the week in a temporary building so that they could become used to learning in a different setting and also to start acquiring resources. They were delighted to fi nd that this was extremely successful.

www.pembrokeshireabacentre.com



9

2. What and who is involved at the very beginning?

Before looking at specifi c issues, it is worth bearing in mind some general pointers, informed by the experience of all the schools in this guide:

In the early days, an enormous amount of time, effort and energy is needed, usually shared among two or three founders and sometimes with one key individual taking the lead.

Although many of the schools have evolved from the determination and vision of one or two founding parents, these key people cannot do it on their own. A critical mass of individuals is necessary to avoid burnout and to ensure a mixture of skills and pooling of energy. Most have started with a management committee of about six.

Establishing a committee, with a chair and clear responsibilities for the members, is advisable right from the start. This may evolve into the board of trustees/school governing body (see section 2.3.4).

It is advisable from as early as possible to run meetings in a business-like way, with minutes and agendas, reports and agreed action points.

You need to balance the passion of being a parent versus the perspective of the wider school. Sometimes its hard for parents to let go.

Think hard about what you call yourselves. Although you need a name quickly, remember youll be lumbered with it. Why choose a stupid name!.

When we were setting up we were more like a set of home programmes under one roof. We needed to pull this together to be a proper school.

There are also some general pitfalls to avoid. The following is not an exhaustive list but has been mentioned by several of the schools:

It is important that you recognise from the start that a school is, by defi nition, there to meet the needs of a group of children. If you set up a school purely to meet the needs of one child, it may be that home education would be a better solution.

While many have started out as a set of home programmes under one roof, all have found it important to recognise that there are distinct features of a school that make it different from a cluster of individual childrens programmes in content, practice and purpose.

There is a big difference between parent founded and parent controlled. Establishing the appropriate role of professionals, and surrendering some infl uence to them, at the right point is crucial; even where parents have stayed in a position of responsibility, they have had to separate their parent perspective from their professional perspective.

2.1 How founding parents met and were recruited

Despite the importance of having a suffi cient number of likeminded people to get the project started, there has been no single way by which founding parents and supporters met. Examples of how the different groups of founding parents met are:

some or all of the children were on ABA home programmes (Quest, The Jigsaw CABAS School, Step by Step)

where families were running home programmes, some had a supervisor or tutor in common

speech therapy classes (Step by Step) put in touch via local paediatrician and then word of mouth (TreeHouse) met at a local autism group (Chrysalis) Earlybird (Rainbow)


10


2.2 The skills for start-up

2.2.1 The start-up committee

Bear in mind that the composition of the start-up committee may be right at fi rst but as the needs of the school evolve, you may need to add to the skill-mix.

Not everyone on the start-up committee has to be a trustee or company director, although it is likely that the committee will form the core of the subsequent board of trustees (in the case of a charity).

An ideal mix would include experience, skills and/or familiarity with: the education sector fi nance business law including SEN law marketing, website and design human resources wide network of contacts fundraising charities

Be careful about Board members get people who offer what you need and who are positive rather than overly-cautious.

Weve got a very varied bunch a couple are relatively well-off and a lot who are not at all. The parent involvement and drive doesnt stem from that. It comes from a belief in the school and a belief in what they want to happen next for the children.

Examples of founding expertise please note this is not an exhaustive list:

Education expertise At Quest, one of the founding parents was already a qualifi ed teacher, who went on to become the Head Teacher.

One of Step by Steps founders (grandmother to one of the fi rst pupils) was already an experienced HMI.

One of Chrysalis early governors was a retired HMI. In other cases, this expertise was not available until the schools recruited qualifi ed teaching staff.

In relation to ABA knowledge and expertise, several of the founding parents had experience of running a home-based programme though they were not themselves qualifi ed or experienced behaviour analysts.

Business and fi nance expertise Founding trustee with business and fi nance background prepared the business plan in the case of Rainbow, The Jigsaw CABAS School and Step by Step, who also had an accountant on their Board.

Quests founding board comprised people with a variety of experience including accountancy, law, business and fi nance.

Marketing, website and design One of the founding parents was a design professional, and did all the logo and design work (TreeHouse).

A friend of one of the founding parents was a graphic designer and took charge of the logo and design (Rainbow).



11

Whilst it is hard to fi nd all these skills in the hard core group, what is really essential is: 1. that it is made up of people with the energy, team spirit and attitude to keep the project alive2. that there is a common goal3. that you may be able to access the necessary skills without having them all represented on your

core group, either through informal networks or if necessary by buying them in

2.2.2 Professional services and fees

Given the extensive responsibilities of running a school, and the complexity of laws around employment, charities, and education law, you are strongly recommended to have access to professional legal services from the start. Even if you have a lawyer on your committee, this may not be suffi cient. Because different types of legal advice are needed at different stages (e.g. employment, charity law, property, education law), even if you can access some pro-bono legal advice for aspects of your work, you may still need to buy legal expertise in other areas.

Similarly, your fi nances will need to be audited annually by an independent and appropriately qualifi ed individual or fi rm, even if there is in-house fi nancial expertise.

2.2.3 Pro-bono assistance

Some or all of the following professional services have been secured at no cost by the schools involved in this guide:

legal advice architects (e.g. for planning permission applications) project management (for capital builds) website and logo design printing accounting and auditing payroll SEN and education law

However, opinion is divided as to whether it is a good idea to seek pro-bono help or to pay at the market rate. This is because it is not always easy for those providing pro-bono assistance to prioritise that work over a commercial arrangement. If you can afford it, there are advantages to setting off on a commercial contractual footing with all the services you will need once the initial burst of activity and goodwill is over.

The Charity needs to keep control be careful about pro-bono if you end up having to be too grateful.

In practice, of course, this will depend on your particular set of relationships as well as available funding. For example, TreeHouse has found that legal fi rms will sometimes consider doing pro-bono or discounted work. Rainbow is still able to access payroll and management accounting services on a goodwill basis from a local private school group and receives all its legal services support pro-bono.

To fi nd out more about fi rms who might be offer pro-bono help, go to ProHelp. This is a list of fi rms with a variety of expertise who are willing to offer pro-bono help to voluntary organisations who do not have large funds of their own, as follows: www.bitc.org.uk/take_action/in_the_community/community_investment/engaging_employees/prohelp/

2.3 Governance: Trustees/Governors/Directors and proprietors

2.3.1 Should we become a charity and a company limited by guarantee?

It is likely that you will be establishing yourselves initially as a registered independent special school (see section 4.1). You will need to give consideration to becoming both a business and a charity.


12


Becoming a company limited by guaranteeYour school will have all the characteristics of a small business; you will be employing people, renting or owning premises, running a bank account, seeking insurance, etc. Because of this, you should set yourself up as a company limited by guarantee. Go to www.companieshouse.gov.uk to fi nd out how to incorporate a company. Becoming a charityAll the schools involved in this guide decided to become a charity. Charitable status offers the signifi cant advantage of being able to fundraise. There are particular requirements of governance, fi nancial reporting and restrictions associated with being a charity, and it takes several months between applying for charitable status and receiving an offi cial charity number. The Charity Commission has a web page with information on things to think about before setting up a new charity. www.charitycommission.gov.uk/registration/think.asp. This page also has links to approved and model governing documents, example objects and a registration pack.

For schools who think they may, in the future, want to apply to be a Non-Maintained Special School (NMSS)(see section 4.1 ) it is worth noting that charitable status will be a necessity.

(See also section 2.3.4 below in relation to the possibility of contrasting terms of reference/goals for your charity, company or school).

2.3.2 Directors/trustees/proprietors

Companies House, the Charity Commission and the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) will require a list of the named people in charge of the organisation as Directors/trustees/proprietors respectively.

The proprietors of the school have an important legal status within the education sector. It is they who are legally bound to make registers available for inspection, submit returns to the LA, and are responsible for the management of an independent school. Sometimes the proprietor is the charitable trust, sometimes it is the Company limited by guarantee, and sometimes both.

Any individual responsible for the management of the school will need to undertake a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check (see section 5.5).

In most of the schools featured in this guide, the trustees of the charity are the same individuals as the directors of the company, who are also the proprietors.

An exception is Quest, which is set up as a company limited by guarantee and run by a board of management with a separate board of trustees who oversee to ensure that the school is run in accordance with its charitable objectives.

2.3.4 Separating charitable trust from school governing body

In the long run, you may want to have a separate school governing body reporting into the board of trustees. In this case, it is important that there is a clear link between the board of trustees and the governing body to ensure they do not pull in different directions, for example, with at least the chair of the governing body being a trustee. Indeed, for schools which have NMSS status, the Charity Commission is keen to ensure that there are close and explicit links between the governors and trustees with as much overlap as possible. Anyone starting from scratch would be well advised to create close links from the start.

Even if you do not separate the two, you may fi nd it useful to access www.governornet.co.uk which provides information and updates relevant to anyone responsible for school governance, including appointing staff, working with parents and pupils, regulations about school premises, and so on.



13

The Jigsaw CABAS School separated the trustees and the governing body after three years (and there are four sub-committees to the governing body). This is because the sets of responsibilities and focus are somewhat different. For example, those with expertise in curriculum, or staff and parent representatives, will not be required as trustees are to look at the wider running of the charity.

TreeHouse developed a School Advisory Committee to be a shadow governing body after four years, and SAC became a formal governing body after a further fi ve years. The governing body is a formal subcommittee of the trust, along with other trust subcommittees, and the governing body has, in turn, two subcommittees.

In both cases, there are overlaps a number of trustees are on the governing body, while the governing body membership is broader.

2.4 Who will fund the pupils places?

Whether you intend to be profi t-making or not, sources of funding will be crucial to your business case.

Most of the schools aim to secure 100% LA funding for their pupils. However, this has not been achieved entirely, or overnight, in all cases.

for some, funding for a home-based ABA programme already agreed by a local authority, was used to support the school placement in the initial stages

for some, privately-funded pupils were accepted in the early stages while waiting for local authority funding to be forthcoming

in some cases, employers are willing and able to fund a place for the child of a member of their staff

in some cases, pupils places were subsidised by the charity until the local authority agreed to name the school in part four of the Statement (in one case this took two years)

By confi ning yourselves to pupils whose fees are funded by LAs you will:

Advantages help to ensure a diverse pupil base: e.g., that the pupils are not only from wealthy families contribute to the positive reputation of the school as one that has LA blessing access an income stream that is relatively secure avoid a situation in which parents who can initially afford fees for one or two terms, anticipating that they will win a place for their child at SENDIST, then become unable to keep up fee payments as Tribunals are delayed or lost

refl ect what may be one of your charitable purposes or values Disadvantages

require parents to persuade LAs to fund the place, which will mean that your school will need to be named on each pupils Statement. This process, in turn, may involve appeals to SENDIST

be vulnerable to changes in LA policy and provision require parents who could afford the fees to go through avoidable hoops of securing a Statement with the school named in part four

rule out a potential source of income

Some schools have subsidised, through fundraising, the cost of a school place, deciding to charge fees below the cost per place. For further discussion about fee-setting and LA funding, see section 4.5 below.


14


3 The business case

Whether you become a company or a charity, you will need to have a clearly-stated set of goals and plans that you can articulate succinctly. The process of coming to a shared vision, mission and plans will help your committee focus and reduce the risk of loss of direction. It will also be a useful back-up document to support fundraising.

3.1 What is your vision and mission?

This can seem like a lot of hot air but is actually very useful for clarifying to yourselves and to others what is unique about what you are trying to do. Although you may not want to get bogged down in discussions about this right from the start, at some point in your fi rst year it will be helpful to clarify and sum up what you are trying to do, since this will be at the forefront of your communications to others and a reminder to yourselves in subsequent years. Some boards of trustees will have a process of revisiting their vision and mission on a three to fi ve yearly basis.

An important potential distinction to bear in mind is that you may want to set the aims and objectives of your charity that go wider than those of the school itself. You are not bound to deliver on every object in your charitys constitution, but it leaves you room for manoeuvre in the future. It is much easier to include scope from the start than to try to change objectives at a later stage.

Sources of advice on how to write a business planYou can access support through your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS). To fi nd your local CVS or other voluntary sector helper agency, go to www.navca.org.uk.

Also of help may be NCVO www.ncvo-vol.org.uk and the Directory of Social Change www.dsc.org.uk. They have a helpdesk and publications catalogues.

See, for example, The Complete Guide to Business and Strategic Planning for Voluntary Organisations.

The Charities Aid Foundation www.cafonline.org offers consultancy and advice on fi nance, fundraising, and business and strategic planning.

Parents involved in setting up schools have said the following:

Having worked with lots of voluntary organisations around business planning I cant emphasise enough how important it always was to try to get them to think about their Business Plan, not as a burdensome document but as an ongoing source of reference which should be informing every committee meeting. That means regularly reviewing, through the agenda, how the organisation is doing in meeting its Business Plan targets. Plus, the Plan should be updated at least annually to keep the organisation on track and ensure it is continually planning for its future.

I would say a Business Plan is the most useful tool an organisation can have.

I dont think you should be doing anything without it. I think its crucial. You cant pre-empt everything, but you can for a lot.

There is no blueprint for an effective business plan since each organisation is unique, with distinct challenges and solutions. However, when setting up a school from scratch you will need to address the following issues:

local conditions who are the potential pupils? fi nding premises initial outlay and fundraising



15

publicity potential allies

3.2 Points to address

3.2.1 The local need

In assessing the local market, and the viability of your school, you need to be aware of what alternative provision is available for pupils such as yours. Crudely, your chances of succeeding are bound to be greatest where there is a dearth in autism-specifi c provision. Likewise, you should discuss with the local authority any plans they may have to develop provision in the immediate through to medium term, and assess the realistic speed at which these developments may come on stream.

They said they were planning to build a new unit attached to (name of LA primary school) but we knew it would take forever and our kids would be secondary age by the time it was ready. So we went ahead anyway.

3.2.2 Dialogue with local authorities

It is really important that you inform your LA/LAs of your plans and intentions, your reason for establishing the school and of subsequent developments. This will certainly not guarantee that they will be willing to fund places at your school, but the inverse is likely to be true: if your local authority is kept in the dark, they will be on stronger ground for not wanting to cooperate. Its always good to be able to demonstrate how reasonable you have been for example, if you are seeking the support of local councillors or local press.

We approached the LA and had several meetings right from the beginning. We suggested a unit attached to a primary school, and offered to fundraise, etc. The LA were cautious and said they didnt feel there was a need Now theyre the only LA with whom we still have battles.

My recommendation is do not upset them. You may be upset by them regularly, but theres always a better way to deal with things other than upping the ante. Theres always another side to the story, you have to consider whats the driver for them and why theyre behaving the way they are.

We naively thought that because (offi cers name) was giving the impression that the LA was interested, he was really interested. It was a false hope.

We took the Business Plan to them right from the start, including the councillors on the Education Committee. Theyve continued to maintain a (school name) doesnt exist attitude in public, but behind the scenes the special needs department is admiring and weve probably raised the bar for everyone.

3.2.3 Number of purchasing authorities

If you have several pupils funded through their Statements of SEN from a single LA, such placements will put pressure on the LAs centrally-held funds. An independent school is considered as an out of authority placement even when it is located within the geographical boundaries of a local authority, and currently there is a drive among all authorities to reduce the number of out of authority placements for SEN. This is because the funding for out of authority placements comes from a different budget to maintained school funding and this budget is generally under extreme pressure.

All the schools contributing to this guide have diversifi ed the number of authorities who fund pupils at their school beyond the LA in which they are geographically located. Given that most LAs will want to keep as many placements as possible within a 20 mile radius of the pupils home, or within


16


reasonable travelling time, this means that fi nding premises accessible to more than one LA will be important. For further discussion about this, see section below.

Step by Step Located in the heart of Sussex yet has children from six LAs which send children by transport from up to an hour away.

Quest Once LA funding was agreed for the fi rst pupil they began to get referrals from this and other LAs for more pupils.

The Jigsaw CABAS School pupils from Surrey form 1/3 of the overall pupils. Six additional LAs fund pupils.

TreeHouse started with four pupils from one LA, and now diversifi ed to 14 LAs. Rainbow pupils are funded from 10 LAs. Chrysalis pupils have been funded from three LAs (currently two).

For tips about how to open doors in your local authority, see Constructive Campaigning for Autism Services: The PACE Parents Handbook.

3.3 Who are the potential pupils?

As the previous section made clear, it is important that your plans for any future growth of your school beyond the founding pupil base are related to an assessment of local need.

Clarity about your pupil base is important, and this will form the base of your admissions policy. The kinds of questions you will need to consider include:1. what age group? (are all the children of the founding parents of similar age and ability?)2. will your school specialise in educating children with specifi c conditions and/or with similar

levels of functioning?3. from what geographical reach will your pupils come?

The answers may initially depend on who the founding children are.

TreeHouse decided that the pupils should all have a diagnosis of autism, or related communication disorder. All four founding pupils were at the severe end of the spectrum and of similar age (three to four), although the differences between the children were still substantial.

The original children at Step by Step differed in age and how their autism manifested itself. Although not all the founding children are still involved, the current pupil profi le refl ects the original mix of abilities.

The Jigsaw CABAS School started with six pupils, all of school age with varied levels of verbal ability. Admission criteria require that all pupils have a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum disorder or related communication disorder.

Chrysalis opened with two full time children and one part time child, ranging from the age of six to eight. All three children presented different academic abilities.

Quest has diversifi ed from its original pupil group and now has pupils with a wide range of academic abilities.

It may be that the pupil profi le will alter from your initial intentions, both because of the experience you will gain and also because you cannot control referrals.

Our view is that we can help any kind of child with ASD. However, as the school has fi lled, weve found that we dont have the space for the most severely behaviourally challenged or one per class maximum.



17

Some children were not offered a place after assessment because they were functioning so ably that they wouldnt have had a peer group, so it wasnt in their best interests. But most children who are assessed are offered a place the bottom line being the ability to persuade the LA to fund it.

3.4 Finding premises

The technicalities around premises are in Section 4.4. You will need to be aware of legal minimum standards and those required to pass an inspection right from the start.

It is not vital that you have identifi ed premises before you decide to establish a school, though clearly the search will affect how long it will be between the initial decision to set up and the date at which you open your doors. Nor is it vital that you start in the place that you intend to make your permanent home.

But you should not underestimate how much time and energy the search can consume, both in the immediate phase and long-term as your school expands. You may have to be willing to consider a series of short-term premises in the early years of the schools development, with all the attendant expense and disruption. TreeHouse had seven different homes in its fi rst 11 years. The Jigsaw CABAS School has been split-site and moved twice, even though a permanent location has now been identifi ed.

An important consideration for some schools has been proximity to a range of LAs, feeling that if a school is located in the heart of a large county this might preclude pupils who have to travel from neighbouring authorities. Until recently, however, it has been the experience of most schools in this guide that, once the school is established, parents and funding LAs have tended not to object to long distances, even though this is clearly not ideal since a key factor is travelling time rather than number of miles. The schools in this guide have noted that reasonable travel times may be anything up to an hour for primary pupils and an hour and 20 minutes for secondary.

It is important to note, though, that most LAs set a maximum journey time between home and school of 45-75 minutes, depending on the age of the child.

3.4.1 Start-up locations

There is no single formula governing the right start-up locations these have ranged from a temporary building in the playground of a local primary school, to renting a private house, to renting a village hall or church building. However, fi nding the right long-term premises is crucial to the viability of your school, and with that in mind you may want to add experts in property to your committee/board as the school evolves.

Examples of fi rst premises Chrysalis church building, with offi ce in founding parents home Quest village hall, with offi ce in founding parents home TreeHouse gym in a local hospital with offi ce in founding parents home Rainbow temporary building in the playground of a local mainstream primary school The Jigsaw CABAS School bungalow (rent-free) converted from domestic use Step by Step barn converted by landlord with aid of DEFRA grant

Only in the case of Step by Step would it be accurate to say that the fi rst premises, i.e. the converted barn, remain the permanent base of the school. In their case, the Step by Step founders decided it was worth taking longer between originally establishing their goals and opening the school, in order to have completed more of the groundwork before the children started.


18


3.4.2 Premises in the longer term

Quest has been able, like Step by Step, to work with a local landlord to convert agricultural barn premises, thanks to a DEFRA grant. In both cases, the landlord came forward as a result of local press coverage.

The schools located in more built-up areas have searched a range of premises options, from commercial outlets to former school buildings to residential properties with potential for conversion of use. TreeHouse fi nally identifi ed a piece of land in North London and gained planning permission to build a permanent base there before constructing temporary buildings on that site (also requiring planning permission) that would last until the building project was complete. The Jigsaw CABAS School has identifi ed a residential property and is in the process of gaining planning permission to convert it. Following its original temporary building, Rainbow obtained a change of use on a commercial building, but is still searching for its ultimate home. Chrysalis have, at the time of writing found a building and hope to be able to move in within a few months.

In the absence of government grants, and unless a DEFRA grant can be obtained to convert agricultural buildings, the capital costs and fundraising burden of these long term premises solutions are huge, running into several millions of pounds and requiring a separate capital fundraising strategy additional to the start-up and revenue fundraising described in the next section.

The search for premises is in danger of hi-jacking everything else we do, taking time, focus and energy away from actually running the school day to day and term by term.

Im glad we didnt know at the start that it would take more than 10 years for us to fi nally have our permanent home, and thats been with a relatively fair wind.

3.5 Initial outlay and fundraising

All the schools that helped prepare this guide undertook initial fundraising before they were able to open. One of them also explored getting a business loan. However, because the school could not at that early stage guarantee the number of pupils, the banks were not prepared to lend without individuals agreeing to be signifi cant guarantors something that none of the founding trustees could afford to be.

Funds for start-up are necessary to cover initial outlay, where this will include some or all of the following, according to how much pro-bono assistance you can get, and whether or not you are converting from home programmes or recruiting and training new staff prior to opening:

premises (and refurbishment) school equipment recruitment, initial training and wages of staff prior to pupils starting production of materials (e.g. prospectus) professional fees (e.g. legal, accounting) contingency

Different schools have had different thresholds for start-up, including contrasting assessments of risk. Much of the risk assessment relates to the level of security linked to the certainty or otherwise of local authority funding of the pupil fees.

The Jigsaw CABAS School had a target of 100,000 for the fi rst year.

Step by Step aimed to do substantial fundraising before opening in order to provide a cushion to enable the school to run for two years without local authority funding. Their initial target was 250,000.

Chrysalis initially aimed to raise 70,000 before the school would open, but a deadline imposed by an impending tribunal hearing led them to open sooner than this, with two founding parents acting as guarantors for the outstanding amount.



19

Rainbow opened having secured enough money to pay staff salaries for three months (25,000).

You need to bear in mind that even if all the pupils places are paid for through Statements, there is likely to be a long-term fundraising requirement.

This is because: you will have some fi xed costs that cannot be reduced even if you are starting with few pupils (e.g. premises, overheads, management). You may not expect to cover all your costs through fees until the school has grown to a size big enough for economies of scale to set in and this may take years

if you decide to keep the school small in order to preserve a small and friendly ethos, as one school is doing, this will impact on your business planning i.e. you may need to subsidise the provision indefi nitely

until the school has established itself with a track-record, and ideally at least one favourable inspection, you may fi nd it hard to make a case for fees that cover all your costs, even if your costs per pupil are high

3.5.1 Ways of fundraising

There are several guides to fundraising. You should enquire about Funderfi nder (accessible through your local CVS or other helper agency), Profunding www.fundinginformation.org.uk, and visit the Directory of Social Changes funding searching package www.trustfunding.org.uk. See also www.governmentfunding.org.uk for government grants to the voluntary and community sector (though this has not been a rich source of funds for the schools in this guide). Most of the schools raised their initial funds through a series of events and targeted approaches to potential supporters (individuals, trusts and companies).

Examples of community fundraising and events have included car boot sales, fairs, coffee mornings, church magazines, dinners and balls, 10k runs, a Snowdonia bike ride, and other sponsored events. Your success in raising funds from such activities will depend on a range of factors, such as the number of people you can access to organise, participate and support these events; their relative wealth; how unifi ed and affl uent your local community is; whether or not you can access corporate contacts with ease.

For sustained fundraising over time, trust sources are likely to produce the biggest return. Good information about all grant making trusts can be found at www.guidestar.org.uk although you will fi nd that many of the largest grant making trusts have their own websites featuring their own specifi c criteria.

3.5.2 Resourcing

Most organisations fi nd that after a certain point, they will need to employ professional fundraisers rather than rely on the energy and commitment of volunteers even though the latter will remain essential. Schools can choose to employ a fundraising consultant or a freelance fundraiser. Advice on fi nding and appointing either of these can be found at www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk. Another alternative is to employ your own fundraiser. Good sources of information about salary levels and sample job descriptions are www.charityjob.co.uk and www.thirdsector.co.uk.

In addition, you will require some fundraising materials. This could start off as a basic donation form and a simple page on your schools website, and can develop over time to include a wide range of leafl ets and posters and a more detailed section of your website.


20


3.5.3 Charity law and best practice

It is important to note that, whether led by volunteers or a professional, all fundraising activities must be conducted within charity law. Information about legalities and also good practice in fundraising can be found at www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk.

3.6 Publicity

Press coverage can be helpful: to generate local awareness about autism in general to build local support for your school to make links with other parents or potential new pupils

to raise the interest of local councillors and other potential allies as an indirect fundraising tool, getting the word around for local fundraising events

Weve bombarded them (local newspaper). Theyve been fantastic, and always supportive. However, press coverage is a double-edged sword.

It is rarely helpful as a direct fundraising tool.

We got some lovely letters of support, but only about 25.00 in donations, from a big splash in the local press.

You can rarely control what the local press write about you. The local newspaper or editor, may have a particular agenda regardless of what your key messages are; they may be seeking to rubbish the LA in a way that may not help your case.

I dont fi nd it useful in our local press to be too heavy-handed about lack of provision. It needs to be selectively and carefully done.

All of the schools in this group have been featured in the press. Some have deliberately chosen to get national as well as local coverage while others have focused chiefl y on local coverage.

Step by Step were featured on local BBC news, ITV, and a big Telegraph article. However, because of the focus on disputes with the local authority, they feel it may have exacerbated and perpetuated an adversarial relationship.

Local press coverage assisted both Step by Step and Quest in their search for premises.

The Jigsaw CABAS School has focused on up-beat stories, such as the progress recently achieved in applying for planning permission.

Chrysalis were featured on BBC London News, The Daily Mails Sunday magazine You, Hertbeat FM, Radio 4, local press, and Hertfordshire Life magazine.

Do not underestimate the amount of time it will take to use the press effectively. Both TreeHouse and The Jigsaw CABAS School have, as an aspect of expansion, been able to employ specialist PR staff in the last two years in order to sustain and manage relationships with the press more systematically. In the early days, you will need to do this work yourselves as part of the wide range of tasks facing the committee. It may be useful to bear in mind the following before you pick up the phone to a local reporter:

think about what you are trying to achieve remember that you will want a long-term relationship with your local newspaper, and view any immediate story in light of this

plan your press work in such a way that you can, as far as possible, control the message



21

3.7 Potential allies

All the schools in this guide have learnt to be effective local infl uencers. For more indepth information about how to go about this, see Constructive Campaigning for Autism Services: The PACE Parents Handbook.

3.7.1 Councillors

Depending on the local party political confi guration, your councillor may have more or less local infl uence. If they are in opposition, you may need to think through whether their support of you is going to help in terms of winning over the majority. And even if they are of the ruling party, unless they are a cabinet member they may only be able to lobby on your behalf internally.

Nonetheless, you never know when your local councillors are going to be helpful. At worst, they may be disinterested, but at best they can be very helpful allies. As a matter of courtesy, it is worth letting them know about you from the start. Later, they may want to lend their support in any number of ways be this in attending a local fete, helping raise the profi le of a local fundraising event, or speaking in favour of your planning permission application.

In addition to asking for a meeting with local councillors, you should also consider having a special briefi ng meeting with the cabinet member with responsibility for children.

3.7.2 MPs

For similar reasons, it is helpful to inform your MP about your existence, the reason why you are establishing a school, and to offer to keep them up to date with developments at regular intervals. Inviting your MP to special events, such as a formal opening, will ensure that s/he remembers you. Meeting the children and observing them in class usually leaves a lasting impression.

3.7.3 Local health service

Local paediatricians and other health professionals may potentially be helpful allies in terms of informing parents about your schools existence.

We found that the LA never told anyone about us, but sometimes a local health professional would suggest to a parent that they come and visit us. Not all the time, because they had to tread carefully, but sometimes they felt so strongly about a particular child that theyd almost say Dont say we told you this, but have you visited (name of school?).

3.7.4 Infl uential local organisations

In order to become embedded in and adopted by the local community, you may want to make friends of particularly infl uential local societies, such as residents associations. These may help with fundraising, lobbying, and in providing a pool of volunteers. It may be particularly important if you are seeking controversial planning permission that you have established a dialogue with local groups.

3.7.5 The National Autistic Society

Find out who your regional National Autistic Society (NAS) offi cers are and make yourselves known to them. They may have useful contacts and background information about local conditions and personnel, and it is helpful to be plugged into other autism networks in your area, including a local NAS branch if there is one. Several schools also found the input of the NAS Education Adviser extremely helpful, drawing on the experience of existing NAS schools and extensive consultancy and outreach.


22


3.7.6 National education charities

A range of charities offering advice on SEN law have been of assistance to the schools in this guide. They can help schools in relation to SEN law and also help parents fi ght for places at our schools. For a full list, see the resources sections.

3.7.7 Involving celebrities?

A lot of time and effort can be spent at the start seeking the endorsement of famous people on the assumption that they will somehow exert leverage and assist with publicity.

I think it probably would have been helpful but we just didnt know anybody and we had other more pressing things to do than run around trying to fi nd someone famous.

Its probably useful because people are interested in celebrities. But weve never been very successful. Its a lot to do with who you know at the end of the day. Actually, now we dont spend much time on it.

I think having a celebrity is a double-edged sword. People remember you, but then they assume youre ok because youve got that celebrity behind you.

Although it is natural to seek infl uential patrons, what really matters is the robustness of your plans and business case, and the cohesion of your committee.



23

4. Early decisions you will need to take prior to registration

It is important to note that while this guide was being prepared the government (DCSF) put out a consultation which, confi rmed by responses, proposed to transfer responsibility for the registration, and regulation, of independent schools from the DCSF to Ofsted. To enable these changes to go ahead, it will require legislation in an Education Bill which, at the time of writing, was not published.

You are, therefore, strongly advised to visit www.dcsf.gov.uk and the links in this section, since the information below may well change.

4.1 What type of school?

For special schools, the following are the salient points: if you are setting up as a charity, this means you are planning to run a school in the non-maintained sector. All the schools contributing to this guide are established as not-for-profi t companies and charities.

independent schools fall into two main categories: 1 independent and registered with the DCSF as such. If the school is named on the childs

statement, this used to need the consent of the Secretary of State. It was up to the LA to obtain this consent but, in practice, schools found that they had to remind and press them to do this. Where the placement is subject to appeal at Tribunal, consent has to be received before the Tribunal. However, Secretary of State consent will no longer be required once the changes above are enacted. It will be up to the LA to assure themselves that the school can meet the childs needs.

2 non-maintained special schools These schools are eligible for some government grants. To be eligible, a school has to be run by a charity and fulfi l additional requirements in relation to school governance, curriculum, and teachers pay and conditions. It is unlikely that at the early stages your school will be able to meet all the NMSS criteria, but you may aspire to achieve this status in time. For example, TreeHouse achieved NMSS status after 11 years.

In all cases, LAs have a right of access to the school to monitor provision for the children once they are placed in your school.

To fi nd out more about what type of school organisation you are seeking to establish, contact: NASS, The National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools at www.nasschools.org.uk. NASS is the membership organisation for special schools not maintained by LAs. NASS provides advice and support to schools and is a central point of contact for lobbying for the sector. NASS offers associate membership to new schools working towards their fi rst full Ofsted inspection. Associate members get a regular e-newsletter and reduced price access to NASS training events and conferences.

the DCSF, details at www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/i/independentschoolsregistration

4.2 School leadership, staffi ng and administrative issues

You will need a clear model of staffi ng, with recruitment (and training/induction if necessary) in place in time for the fi rst pupil(s).

4.2.1 School leadershipThe most common model of schooling in the UK expects a qualifi ed teacher to run the school as headteacher. They are responsible for everything, from policies (e.g. admissions), the curriculum, recruitment and retention, and premises to health and safety, child protection, and so on.

However, it is worth bearing in mind that the process of setting up a school involves a particularly heavy load in all these matters. You are likely to be recruiting new staff and pupils, managing


24


premises and compliance with regulations, liaising with local authorities and fundraising, all at the same time.

For this reason, most of the schools in this guide have adapted this traditional model, in a range of ways.1. Some parent-founded special schools have chosen to separate leadership functions between

(1) a person or people in charge of the executive/business development functions, and (2) a person or people in charge of the education.

2. Others have consolidated all the functions of (1) in one of the founding trustees, and also recruited a senior teacher to address aspects of (2) i.e. to head up the curriculum and professional management aspects of the work.

In addition, there are differences in the lines of reporting into the trustees/management committee of the school.

Each school has taken a slightly different approach. Some of the following have evolved in time. For information about how ABA expertise fi ts into the summary below, see section 4.2.4.

Chrysalis Founding parent is in charge of fundraising and secretary to Board of Governors. The headteacher (now Principal) is a qualifed teacher and is line-managed by the Chair of Governors. This post was recruited from the outset, prior to the school opening.

RainbowFounding parent is Principal of the School and currently Chair of Trustees, in charge of all non-educational aspects of the school. She line manages the headteacher and reports to the full Board of Trustees. Initially a group of parents ran the offi ce but this consolidated into the one role within a year.

The Jigsaw CABAS SchoolFounding parent was originally overall Head with an experienced supervisor heading up the education, but is now Executive Head, overseeing all administrative and non-educational aspects of the school, with a qualifi ed teacher/Behaviour Analyst as Director of Education. They jointly report to the Board of Governors and The CABAS Board as a Registered CABAS school.

QuestFounding parent is a qualifi ed headteacher, and line manages educational and development staff, working in close collaboration with an Associate Behaviour Analyst. They report to the board of management and board of trustees. They receive additional professional supervision from a Senior Behaviour Analyst at Kent University and also a qualifi ed School Improvement Partner.

Step by StepDirector is a qualifi ed teacher, who also worked previously in banking/fi nancial services, and reports to the Board of Trustees. The Director line manages teacher-in-charge and all educational staff but shares ultimate education decision-making with them. They receive their additional professional supervision from trustee who is former HMI. Director was recruited after one year, initially as a trustee but then took up formal paid post one year prior to school opening.

TreeHouseChief Executive is responsible for overall charity, including school, and line manages headteacher. Both are members of School Governing Body, which in turn is a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees.



25

4.2.2 Ongoing role for parents

It is important to be clear about who is in charge and to respect boundaries. For parent-founded schools in particular, there is often an advantage in the founders continuing to be involved and, as can be seen from the above, in several cases founding parents have continued to have a formal, and in some cases salaried, position. The ongoing involvement of parents in the organisation as a whole, whatever their role in governance or management may be, needs to be clearly delineated from any special privileges they may seek in relation to their own children. It is vital that appropriately qualifi ed and experienced professionals do not have their judgement continually questioned and, as a result, become inhibited in trying to do the job for which they have been recruited.

Where a school has been set up with particular children in mind, it is often particularly hard for the parents to let go and see the needs of all the pupils as equal. Being able to separate your parent hat from your organisational hat is crucial for the welfare of all the pupils. However, when this can be achieved, parents continue to be a very valuable resource. First, it is the aspiration of all the schools in this guide that parents should be active partners in their childrens education, and second, parents are encouraged to be members of various committees.

4.2.3 Role of qualifi ed teachers

For schools who are committed to underpinning their practice with the principles of ABA, it may be hard to fi nd staff who both have this expertise and who also are Qualifi ed Teachers (QTs). Nonetheless, all the schools have recognised the importance of having Qualifi ed Teachers on staff.

Despite the fact that the DCSF state that there is no requirement that all teachers in independent schools have Qualifi ed Teacher status as long as there is relevant expertise or experience, in practice it has proved to be important for all the schools in this guide to employ or access Qualifi ed Teachers. This is partly in order to be recognisable to external parties such as Ofsted and LAs, to be able to speak the same language, but also, more fundamentally, to provide suffi cient curriculum awareness appropriate to the school system.

I think you need Qualifi ed Teachers straight away, because you need to link with the National Curriculum. Youre daft not to use it as a resource. To access it well as a resource you need someone whos been trained and educated with it.

We took it literally but soon found out that in practice we werent going to be inspected favourably without qualifi ed teachers.

At SENDIST hearings they are always asking about the ratio of qualifi ed teachers to pupils.

In the early stages of their development, The Jigsaw CABAS School, Step by Step and TreeHouse all encouraged some existing members of staff to obtain a PGCE, and have since recruited additional QTs.

Chrysalis recruited a qualifi ed headteacher right from the start.

Rainbow received QT support from TreeHouse and some local primary schools in the early years. The founding parent and the ABA supervisor had to learn as much as they could about the National Curriculum and, in particular planning and assessment, prior to employing in-house QTs. Rainbow now employs two QTs including the headteacher, has funded one member of staff to acquire a PGCE, and has two further members of staff going through the Graduate QT programme.

Quest employed its second QT after two years.


26


4.2.4 Expertise in ABA

Most schools have in-house staff who are experienced and qualifi ed in ABA at a senior level. They may be in overall charge of educational decision-making, just below the overall Head or Director. Many schools have also set up a consultancy agreement with an external organisation or individual to provide additional expert input in the classroom, in training or in individual childrens cases. This consultancy augments the expertise within the school.

Arrangements have differed markedly, and what is felt appropriate or necessary may change as the school evolves.

The Jigsaw CABAS School has always been a CABAS school, which means that a system for teacher training and ranking was in place from the outset.

Quest started with a consultancy arrangement with an independent external individual provider and now receive their consultancy from a Behaviour Analyst based at a university.

Step by Step currently use two independent consultants, one who formerly ran an independent external commercial provider organisation, and another who is university-based with considerable experience.

Chrysalis bought in consultancy from an independent charitable provider, and also buys in expertise from an additional independent external individual provider.

Rainbow have a BCBA-qualifi ed ABA Consultant who is also the Deputy Head, and additional consultancy from Dr Patrick McGreevy who visits the school for three days every term.

TreeHouse was a CABAS school in is fi rst year, then used a series of external consultancies until employing its own Senior Behaviour Analyst and in-house ABA team after four years.

Schools also differ in how they ensure that their staff are appropriately trained. The level of qualifi cations required and requisite number of people with these qualifi cations varies. While all offer some in-house training, which in the case of The Jigsaw CABAS school is certifi ed by the CABAS Board, some have in addition funded some of their staff to undertake training in preparation for BACB certifi cation at either Associate (BCABA) or higher (BCBA) level.

4.2.5 Expertise in SEN law

It is likely that at least some of your potential pupils places will rely on parents attending SEN and Disability Tribunals. Because of this, your school staff (often but not always the headteacher) will be required to provide evidence for Tribunal to show that the school can meet all of a childs needs. A member of staff may also need to attend hearings as an expert witness. These members of staff will need to be advised on what to say and what not to say.

Some schools in this guide have paid for one-off training sessions from SEN lawyers. In one case, the Principal had already trained in this area. Similarly, some of the schools do a lot of direct work with prospective parents informing them about the type of evidence they will need for Tribunal, the statementing process, timescales, etc. Others refer parents to individuals and organisations offering advocacy and advice.

4.2.6 Recruitment and staff remuneration

In some instances, in the early stages the school staff have comprised the tutors who were originally working on home programmes. In other instances, even from the outset, staff have all been recruited through advertising in the sector and/or local press, local universities, and email groups. Word of mouth continues to play an important part for some, even when, as schools evolve, recruitment is done solely through advertising and a formal recruitment process.



27

As part of your business planning and fi nancial projections, and in establishing your fee structure, you will need to decide on salary rates. All schools have pegged the pay of their qualifi ed teaching staff to the national pay scales, but have differed in how they approached the salaries of non-qualifi ed teaching staff.

Step by Step use the national unqualifi ed teacher scale for tutors and national scale for teachers.

The Jigsaw CABAS School use the national teacher pay scales for QTs, and have separate scales for non-qualifi ed teachers. All scales refl ect progress through CABAS ranks.

Chrysalis operates to an independent pay scale. The unqualifi ed staff were initially paid at rates that matched what they had been on as home tutors.

Quest QTs are paid according to national pay scales, and have separate scales for non-qualifi ed teachers.

Rainbow QTs are paid according to national pay scales, with class leaders on the non-qualifi ed teacher pay scales. More junior classroom staff scales are based on TreeHouse scales.

TreeHouse QTs are paid according to national pay scales and have recently adopted a local Government job evaluation scheme to inform other staff scales.

4.2.7 Financial systems and setting up payroll

You will need robust fi nancial systems and the moment you take on paid staff you will need to operate a payroll system.

Different schools have found different ways round this. As organisations grow and their staffi ng issues become more complex, so schools have found it important to outsource payroll services. For Rainbow, a local private school group manages their payroll pro-bono and has done so from the outset, while The Jigsaw CABAS School and TreeHouse have paid to outsource the function after eight to nine years of doing it in-house.

From the start, most schools have employed designated staff to carry out the book-keeping and more high-level fi nancial work, including production of management accounts. One school has employed a Bursar.

4.2.8 Length of school day and school year

Minimum number of hours of teaching time are set out in DfES Circular 7/90 at the time of writing. The minimum consists of 190 contact days and fi ve training days. However, the schools in our group tend to run a longer-than-average school year (43-45 weeks). While two are contemplating having a full month off in August, they would hope to run a two week playscheme over this time to support the families.

Although it has been known for special day schools to operate a shorter-than-average school day, the schools in our group have on the whole chosen 9am to 3.30pm.

The things that schools have taken into account in reaching their decision have included pupil, family and staff factors. Sometimes these confl ict, and a balance or compromise is necessary. For example, although families and pupils often benefi t from shorter holidays, staff burnout is a real consideration. Similarly, parents may be keen for their pupils to access as much teaching as possible in a day, but running a special school classroom requires extensive planning and material preparation, as well as frequent meetings to discuss pupil progress. This can only be done outside teaching time.


28


4.3 Identifying the pupils (at start-up and longer-term)

4.3.1 How many pupils, what age range?

This will form part of your business planning and infl uence your fi nancial projections. Most of the schools have started small, with six pupils or less, and all have chosen different long-term goals in terms of maximum size, and pupil age-range.

Step by Step started with three full-time and one half-time pupil aged six to nine, though they were registered for all ages up to 16. By July 2008 they had reached maximum capacity and are now looking to expand the site to accept more children.

Chrysalis started with three pupils and now have two full-time and two four year olds on part-time, temporary assessment places. They are registered for the age group four to 13.

The Jigsaw CABAS School are registered for 36 pupils but aim for 60 pupils long-term, from reception through to age 16 with plans to extend this to 19. They had six pupils in the fi rst year, and have grown steadily since then.

Quest started with three pupils (one full-time and two part-time). After four years it had grown to eight full-time pupils. They are registered for pupils aged fi ve to 14 and this will be extended to 16 by the end of 2008.

Rainbow started with three pupils, with permission to expand to 15 (now 18) pupils once new premises were found. They are registered for pupils age four to 11, but hope in the long run to grow to 60 pupils, up until the age of 16.

TreeHouse started with four pupils and have grown steadily year on year. Currently there are 60 pupils and the school is registered such that it will be able to take up to 80 pupils aged three to 19.

At start-up, most of the schools decisions took into account the ages of the founding cohort of pupils, but they differed in their aspirations in terms of provision for older pupils. It is important not to under-estimate the particular requirements of secondary-aged pupils, including additional space and facilities, specifi cs in relation to the curriculum (e.g. practice suites for life skills), and the experience and expertise of staff. The organisational requirements, including statutory transition reviews, liaising with the Connexions service, and so on, will also require targeted planning and additional multi-agency work.

Clearly, the availability of premises and staff at any one time is a key determinant of the size of the school in the immediate term, but the preferred overall target also varies. The factors infl uencing ultimate size may be both philosophical/pedagogical and practical. Some seek a small school deliberately because they want to retain an intimate ethos, minimising some of the sensory disadvantages of large numbers of people in one organisation. Others have looked at the fi nancial and organisational challenges of both staying small and of growing. While expansion can bring about economies of scale, it can also place additional burdens.

Small is beautiful on the one hand, but on the other hand there are advantages to being big (you cant dismiss TreeHouse). And if we had more places, LEAs would look at us more closely.

What was important in setting up was that we were providing something intimate and different from other schools. We dont want to sacrifi ce that by growing too big.



29

4.3.2 Advertising for pupils

It has been known for a school to be set up to meet the needs of a single founding child, while in other cases (more frequently) the school is established with a group of children in mind.Either way, it is likely that you have in mind a school that will meet the needs of more children than the original group, and in this case you will either seek to attract additional pupils from the outset, or plan to attract them in subsequent years.

Because of the requirements around registration (see section 5), you need to be careful not to advertise formally until you have achieved this, or alternatively take care not to make any public commitments that you may not be able to fulfi l.

To get round this, some schools have attracted additional pupils by simple word of mouth. Others have found that enquiries arose following a carefullyplaced article in the local press. All have also started to receive spontaneous enquiries from some LAs.

4.4 Premises

Remember that wherever you are you will probably have to apply to the local authority for planning permission and/or notify them of changes of use if you are constructing new buildings on a site or adapting existing buildings. For a building to be used as a school it has to have what is referred to as D1 use. Relationships with your local planning department need to be as constructive as possible as you will probably fi nd you get to know them rather well!

4.4.1 What are the regulations?

Its tortuous.

Its something you have to go through yourself, in infi nite detail.

There is a range of legal requirements relating to the facilities in any school, and the fact that you are a special school will place additional requirements, including the amount of physical space your pupils may need, possible need for quiet areas for pupils, and so on. Remember also that the requirements of a building will vary signifi cantly according to the age range of your pupils, from basic things like providing separate boy/girl toilets when pupils are over the age of eight, to ensuring that secondary aged pupils have more space in general and access to specifi c curriculum opportunities.

The fi rst source of general information on this is the DCSF information pack (see section 5). You should also access the various regulations and bulletins via www.teachernet.gov.uk search for School Buildings Information Centre and/or Schools Capital Assets Design Team. From these searches you will be able to download a useful overview of all the bulletins and regulations contained in the Schools Design Unit publications list.

Do check regularly as several Building Bulletins in relation to SEN may be updated soon.

Examples of the most basic requirements you need to address include:

4.4.2 Fire regulations This is a complex area. You will need to complete a school fi re risk assessment to comply with fi re regulations for the workplace and this needs to be done prior to registration. Examples of necessary measures include having a fi re alarm and fi re-proofi ng all doors. More information about all of this is contained in the DCSF information pack. You should also go to your local Fire Department to fi nd out all you need to do to comply with the fi re regulations and to get a fi re certifi cate which you will need to submit with your registration. In addition, companies that provid

Documents

Schools From Scratch