My dad missed out on going to the local grammar. He wonders how his life would have been different if he had gone. His opinion is that he’d have had a better job and could have given his family a better life. He was from a ‘poor’ background. We didn’t have luxuries when I was a child and it wasn’t easy.
But that was the early ‘50s. Today’s educational climate is different: today’s schools should all be able to give children a better life, including those with SEND.
Unfortunately, due to the selection criteria in grammar schools, they can automatically exclude many children with SEND. If they have MLD, they are not academically able to do the entrance test. If they have dyslexia, ADHD or ASD, they may be excluded by the nature and pressure of the test, even if they have the academic ability.
I worry whether new grammar schools will have a SEND register. Will they even need to know what an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is?
Connecting with others
As a result of this, I am concerned that we will be bringing up children who never mix with peers who find learning, friendships or physical aspects of life more difficult than they do.
Knowing how to communicate and get along with different people is an essential skill for the job market as well as for life; empathy comes with experience.
So if we are going to have more grammar schools, my suggestions to Justine Greening are these:
- All grammar schools should have to form partnerships with other local schools, at least one of which should be a special school.
- Grammar schools should open their facilities to their partner schools, and the cluster should run joint learning projects, so that the pupils can work together.
- Community involvement should be an official part of the curriculum for grammar schools. This could be through offering something like the Duke of Edinburgh scheme or regular voluntary work for every pupil.
Ultimately, if selection criteria does make it more difficult for grammar schools to welcome children with SEND, then we must make sure that these schools work in partnership with special schools to mentor and develop the life skills of their pupils - in an arrangement that is sure to be mutually beneficial.
Lynn McCann is an autism specialist, teacher and consultant at Reachout ASC. Her book, How to support students with ASC in the secondary school, will be published in January 2017.
Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? Follow TES on Twitter and like TES on Facebook
