Headteachers are warning that opening up specialist resource bases can lead to mainstream schools becoming “magnet” schools for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their area, meaning they will face increased pressures and parent expectations.

Sector leaders have urged ministers to ensure that schools choosing to open resourced provisions or special educational needs (SEN) units are given support to do this sustainably.

Heads warn that opening up specialist bases can lead to parents expecting that their children at the school will be placed within them, while other schools will direct families of children with SEND to that school.

Tes has spoken to headteachers about the challenges of running resourced provisions and SEN units as the government has made it clear it wants to see more of these settings being created.

Tackling high SEND spending

Last week the Department for Education announced £3 billion in funding that it said could create up to 50,000 new specialist places in mainstream schools over four years. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson told MPs that the creation of these places can help to bring down high SEND spending by reducing pupil transport costs.

Resourced provisions operate in mainstream schools, with pupils using them expected to spend more than 50 per cent of their time in the main school, while SEN units operate in mainstream schools but pupils spend more than half of their time in the unit. Typically, places in the bases are commissioned by local councils, which place pupils with SEND in them.

But there are concerns about whether schools have the capacity to deliver this provision, as well as about the impact of opening new units.

Amanda Hulme, headteacher of Claypool Primary School in Bolton, which runs a SEN unit, said: “One of the things that is tricker is because you have a SEN unit, other families think, ‘Oh well, if we go to Claypool then we will be able to get our child into the unit,’ which isn’t the case because, firstly, it is full but also the local authority determine which children are placed in it.”

Similar concerns have been echoed by other leaders, who said that opening up a base turned them into a “SEND magnet school”. This term is often used when a school’s reputation for being inclusive for SEND leads to it having a higher number of pupils with additional needs than its neighbours.

Dave Woods, headteacher of Beaconsfield Primary School in Middlesex, said: “Once you do have a provision, you automatically become a magnet school.”

Despite making it clear to prospective parents that enrolling in the school will not mean automatically transferring into the provision, Mr Woods said, parents want to come because it is there.

He told Tes this issue was exacerbated by “the poor practice of some schools who don’t want to be inclusive and who will direct people to this school”.

Mr Woods said his school gets referrals and enquiries from across its borough and neighbouring areas because it has built up a reputation for being an inclusive school for pupils with SEND.

“People tell us, ‘We were told to come to you,’ which is nice for the school, but actually it does present challenges as well,” he added. “Because quite often we’ll have pupils come into mainstream, and other schools have done nothing at all and so we have to start the whole support process from the very beginning.”

Frustration at not meeting needs

Jonathan Bailey, who previously led a school that runs a resourced provision, said: “We became a bit of a magnet school. It can be very frustrating because neighbouring schools would send parents to us and, in essence, would say to parents, ‘We can’t meet your child’s needs but go down the road - that school has their own additional or specialist resourced provision and they have all the facilities.’”

He said this meant having to upskill staff to explain to parents calling in that, although the provision is based at the school, getting a mainstream place at the school does not necessarily mean they will be able to access it.

Leaders have previously warned that being seen as a SEND magnet school can present funding challenges if it leads to a higher proportion of pupils in mainstream classes with additional needs who need extra support but who are not part of the specialist base or unit that receives greater funding.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Schools that have resourced provision or attached units often find that they have higher numbers of pupils with SEND in general, as parents understandably see the school as a centre of specialism.

“It is important that any school running resourced provision or with a specialist unit has the appropriate level of resources to meet those needs, and that the accountability regime recognises the particular work they do.”

Wider benefits for schools

However, school leaders also say that opening a unit can mean developing expertise among staff that benefits the wider school.

Ms Hulme said that her school had gone through “a steep learning curve” after opening an SEN unit.

But she added: “What we can do is transfer some of that learning and those skills into our mainstream classrooms. So for example, we use the Attention Autism programme in the SEN unit, and so we are now able to use that in other areas of school. The curriculum that we follow in the SEN unit we can now use in other parts of school for some of our children. That’s been really valuable.”

Mr Woods said that while there are risks involved in opening a unit, it is “worthwhile because you end up with a much more inclusive, happier school”. “We really are serving the needs of the community,” he added.

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