Most of England’s 73 “SEND magnet” schools achieve negative Progress 8 scores, highlighting the “accountability risk” of being inclusive, according to findings shared with Tes.

There have been concerns that schools which earn a reputation as being inclusive for students with special educational needs become “magnet” schools which can place them under greater pressure in terms of academic results and funding.

In a new analysis FFT Education Datalab has explored whether it can identify SEND magnet schools which have a markedly higher rate of pupils with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) than might be expected.

It compared schools’ proportion of Year 7 students with EHCPs with the prevailing rates in local areas.

Schools with EHCP rates that were at least 50 per cent higher than expected for their area, based on a three-year average from 2023 to 2025, were classed as SEND magnet schools.

SEND magnet schools identified

Some 73 secondary schools met this definition, according to a blogpost published today by FFT chief statistician Dave Thomson.

And these SEND magnet schools tend to achieve negative Progress 8 scores - with the worst scores seen in schools with the highest levels of EHCPs, the research shows.

For schools where between 9 per cent and 12 per cent of students had an EHCP, the average Progress 8 score was -0.15.

For those where the EHCP figure was 12 per cent of more, the average Progress 8 score was -0.27.

Mr Thomson writes in his blogpost: “The SEND magnet schools with Year 7 EHCP rates above 9 per cent tend to achieve negative Progress 8 scores.”

This highlights “the current risk for secondary schools in becoming more inclusive”, he adds.

Previous research by the Sutton Trust charity showed that the top 500 schools on the Progress 8 measure have an average SEND rate that is 1.1 percentage points lower than their catchment areas.

In around half of the SEND magnet schools identified by FFT Datalab, at least 9 per cent of Year 7 students had an EHCP.

Not all schools with this many EHCPs met the FFT definition of a SEND magnet school, as some are in local areas where the EHCP rate is generally high.

Of the 73 SEND magnet schools, 35 had some Year 7 students recorded as attending a resourced provision or SEN unit.

The FFT blog adds: “If specialist provision is available for pupils with SEN, it is perhaps unsurprising that these schools attract pupils with EHC plans.”

Headteachers have raised concerns previously that schools that open up a resource base risk becoming SEND magnet schools.

Transition for pupils with EHCPs

The FFT analysis also looked at the transition from primary to secondary school for pupils with EHCPs, and the types of provision that they move into in Year 7.

Among all pupils with EHCPs, there was an even split - with 46 per cent moving into mainstream and 46 per cent moving into special or alternative provision schools.

The remaining 8 per cent either had no state-funded school place or were in local authority-funded alternative provision.

The vast majority of pupils with EHCPs (94 per cent) who are in a special school in Year 6 transfer to a special school in Year 7.

But the data shows a more complex pattern in mainstream.

Among pupils attending a resourced provision within a mainstream school for Year 6, less than half stay in a mainstream setting in Year 7.

Some 48 per cent move to a special or AP setting, while 4 per cent leave the state system. The remainder are in local authority-funded alternative provision.

For pupils who are in SEN units in Year 6, just 34 per cent go on to a mainstream setting.

Under the current system, pupils in resourced provisions still spend the majority of their time in a mainstream class. Pupils in SEN units, however, spend the majority of their education there.

The Department for Education’s SEND reforms would set up new national inclusion standards for all schools, with an expectation that all secondary schools have an inclusion base - the new term for resourced provisions and SEN units.

Mr Thomson said two “measures of success” for the government’s plans will be a reduction in pupils leaving the state-funded school system after Year 6, and the number of schools identified as SEND magnets.