Schools From Scratch

Schools from Scratch
An essential guide to setting up a special school

Based on the experiences of six parentfounded 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 1
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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:
Chrysalis
www.chrysalisschool.org
Email: info@chrysalisschool.org or laura@chrysalisschool.org
Registered charity number: 1101424
The Jigsaw CABAS School
www.jigsawschool.co.uk
Email: info@jigsawschool.co.uk
Quest
www.questschool.co.uk
Email: quest_school@btconnect.com
Rainbow
www.rainbowcharity.org.uk
Email: admin@rainbowcharity.org.uk
Step by Step
www.stepbystepschool.org.uk
Email: dfidler@stepbystepschool.org.uk
TreeHouse
www.treehouse.org.uk
Email: info@treehouse.org.uk
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
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Disclaimer
This is intended as an introductory guide, but it does not constitute an official advice tool nor a
definitive 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.
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
3
4
1.
Introduction
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
2.
What and who is involved at the very beginning?

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
14
What is your vision and mission?........................................................................................................................... 14

Points to address ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
3.2.1 The local need 15
3.2.2 Dialogue with local authorities 15
3.2.3 Number of purchasing authorities 15
Who are the potential pupils?.................................................................................................................................. 16
Finding premises ...................................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4.1 Start-up locations 17
3.4.2 Premises in the longer term 18
Initial outlay and fundraising ................................................................................................................................... 18
3.5.1 Ways of fundraising 19
3.5.2 Resourcing 19
3.5.3 Charity law and best practice 20
Publicity ..................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Potential allies .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
3.7.1 Councillors 21
3.7.2 MPs 21
3.7.3 Local health service 21
3.7.4 Influential local organisations 21
3.7.5 The National Autistic Society 21
3.7.6 National education charities 22
3.7.7 Involving celebrities? 22
Early decisions you will need to take prior to registration

4.1
4.2
How founding parents met and were recruited ....................................................................................................... 9

The skills for start-up ............................................................................................................................................... 10
2.2.1 The start-up committee 10
2.2.2 Professional services and fees 11
2.2.3 Pro-bono assistance 11
Governance: Trustees/Governors/Directors and proprietors .............................................................................. 11
2.3.1 Should we become a charity and a company limited by guarantee? 11
2.3.2 Directors/trustees/proprietors 12
2.3.4 Separating charitable trust from school governing body 12
Who will fund the pupils places? ........................................................................................................................... 13
The business case

3.1
3.2
4.
How to Use this Guide ............................................................................................................................................... 7

The purpose of this guide .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Partnership approaches ............................................................................................................................................. 7
The Pembrokeshire ABA Project the model parents have been longing for? .................................................. 8
23
What type of school?................................................................................................................................................ 23

School leadership, staffing and administrative issues ........................................................................................ 23
4.2.1 School leadership 23
4.2.2 Ongoing role for parents 25
4.2.3 Role of qualified teachers 25
4.2.4 Expertise in ABA 26
4.2.5 Expertise in SEN law 26
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4.3
4.4
4.5
5.
The work involved in registering as a school

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
6.
6.2
6.3
33
Registering as a school............................................................................................................................................ 33
What is involved in registering and how long does it take? ................................................................................ 33
Policies and information to parents and prospective parents............................................................................. 33
Curriculum policy, schemes of work and assessment methods ......................................................................... 34
Recruitment and child protection .......................................................................................................................... 35
5.5.1 Criminal Records Bureau checks 35
5.5.2 Additional child protection safeguards 35
When the school has opened: Things to plan for

6.1
7.
4.2.6 Recruitment and staff remuneration 26

4.2.7 Financial systems and setting up payroll 27
4.2.8 Length of school day and school year 27
Identifying the pupils (at start-up and longer-term) .............................................................................................. 28
4.3.1 How many pupils, what age range? 28
4.3.2 Advertising for pupils 29
Premises .................................................................................................................................................................... 29
4.4.1 What are the regulations? 29
4.4.2 Fire regulations 29
4.4.3 Health and safety 30
School fees and financing the organisation .......................................................................................................... 30
4.5.1 Calculating the average cost of a place 30
4.5.2 Deciding on approach to pupil by pupil vs general fee levels 31
4.5.3 Is it possible to subsidise places via fundraising? 31
4.5.4 Gauging the local market 32
4.5.5 Fee increases over time 32
4.5.6 The National Contract 32
36
Inspections and information required by government ......................................................................................... 36

6.1.1 Inspections 36
6.1.2 Informing the DCSF of changes 36
Things to plan for ...................................................................................................................................................... 36
6.2.1 Growth 36
6.2.2 Relationships 37
6.2.3 Staffing and organisational structure 37
6.2.4 Revisiting your strategy 37
Accessing useful resources and networks............................................................................................................ 37
6.3.1 Local Lending Resource Libraries 37
6.3.2 NAS Partners in Autism 37
Concluding remarks
Glossary
Education sources and organisations
Schools and units mentioned in this guide
Charity and fundraising resources and organisations
38
39
41
43
43
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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 reflect 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 find 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 influence local authorities and other stakeholders, see Constructive
Campaigning for Autism Services: the PACE Parents Handbook.
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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 fight
for their existence if not in defiance 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 finally 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
five, and four over five. 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 qualifications 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 five 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 find that this was extremely successful.
www.pembrokeshireabacentre.com
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2. What and who is involved at the very beginning?

Before looking at specific 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 definition, 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 influence 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 sufficient 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)
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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 first 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
finance
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 qualified teacher, who went on to
become the Head Teacher.
One of Step by Steps founders (grandmother to one of the first 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 qualified
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
qualified or experienced behaviour analysts.
Business and finance expertise
Founding trustee with business and finance 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 finance.
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).
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Whilst it is hard to find 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 alive
2. that there is a common goal
3. 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 sufficient. 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 finances will need to be audited annually by an independent and appropriately
qualified individual or firm, even if there is in-house financial 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 probono 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 firms 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 probono.
To find out more about firms who might be offer pro-bono help, go to ProHelp. This is a list of firms
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.
11
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Becoming a company limited by guarantee

Your 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
find out how to incorporate a company.
Becoming a charity
All the schools involved in this guide decided to become a charity. Charitable status offers the
significant advantage of being able to fundraise. There are particular requirements of governance,
financial reporting and restrictions associated with being a charity, and it takes several months
between applying for charitable status and receiving an official 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 find 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.
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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 five 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 profit-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 confining 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
reflect 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.
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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 first 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 five 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 plan
You can access support through your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS). To find 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 finance,
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?
finding premises
initial outlay and fundraising
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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-specific 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 (officers 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 diversified 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
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reasonable travelling time, this means that finding 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 first 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 diversified 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 specific 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 profile reflects 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 diversified from its original pupil group and now has pupils with a wide range of
academic abilities.
It may be that the pupil profile 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 filled, weve found that we dont have the space for the most
severely behaviourally challenged or one per class maximum.
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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 identified 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 first 11 years. The Jigsaw
CABAS School has been split-site and moved twice, even though a permanent location has now
been identified.
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, finding 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 first premises

Chrysalis church building, with office in founding parents home
Quest village hall, with office in founding parents home
TreeHouse gym in a local hospital with office 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 first 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.
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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 finally identified 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 identified 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
finally 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 significant 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 first 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.
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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 fixed 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 indefinitely
until the school has established itself with a track-record, and ideally at least one
favourable inspection, you may find 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 Funderfinder (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 unified and affluent 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
find that many of the largest grant making trusts have their own websites featuring their own specific
criteria.
3.5.2 Resourcing
Most organisations find 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 finding 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
leaflets and posters and a more detailed section of your website.
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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 find 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 chiefly 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
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3.7
Potential allies
All the schools in this guide have learnt to be effective local influencers. 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 configuration, your councillor may have more or less local
influence. 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 profile 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
briefing 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 Influential local organisations
In order to become embedded in and adopted by the local community, you may want to make
friends of particularly influential 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) officers 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.
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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 fight 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 find 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 influential patrons, what really matters is the robustness of your plans
and business case, and the cohesion of your committee.
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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, confirmed 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 nonmaintained sector. All the schools contributing to this guide are established as not-forprofit 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 fulfil 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 find 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 first
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, staffing and administrative issues

You will need a clear model of staffing, with recruitment (and training/induction if necessary) in place
in time for the first pupil(s).
4.2.1 School leadership
The most common model of schooling in the UK expects a qualified 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
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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 fits 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.
Rainbow
Founding parent is Principal of the School and currently Chair of Trustees, in charge of all noneducational aspects of the school. She line manages the headteacher and reports to the full
Board of Trustees. Initially a group of parents ran the office but this consolidated into the one
role within a year.
Founding 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 qualified teacher/Behaviour Analyst as Director of Education.
They jointly report to the Board of Governors and The CABAS Board as a Registered
CABAS school.
Quest
Founding parent is a qualified 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 qualified School Improvement
Partner.
Step by Step
Director is a qualified teacher, who also worked previously in banking/financial 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.
TreeHouse
Chief 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.
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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 qualified
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 qualified teachers
For schools who are committed to underpinning their practice with the principles of ABA, it may
be hard to find staff who both have this expertise and who also are Qualified Teachers (QTs).
Nonetheless, all the schools have recognised the importance of having Qualified Teachers on staff.
Despite the fact that the DCSF state that there is no requirement that all teachers in independent
schools have Qualified 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 Qualified
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 sufficient curriculum
awareness appropriate to the school system.
I think you need Qualified 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 qualified teachers.
At SENDIST hearings they are always asking about the ratio of qualified 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 qualified 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.
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4.2.4 Expertise in ABA

Most schools have in-house staff who are experienced and qualified 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-qualified 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 first 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
qualifications required and requisite number of people with these qualifications varies. While all offer
some in-house training, which in the case of The Jigsaw CABAS school is certified by the CABAS
Board, some have in addition funded some of their staff to undertake training in preparation for
BACB certification 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.
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As part of your business planning and financial projections, and in establishing your fee structure,
you will need to decide on salary rates. All schools have pegged the pay of their qualified teaching
staff to the national pay scales, but have differed in how they approached the salaries of nonqualified teaching staff.
Step by Step use the national unqualified 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-qualified teachers. All scales reflect progress through CABAS ranks.
Chrysalis operates to an independent pay scale. The unqualified 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 nonqualified teachers.
Rainbow QTs are paid according to national pay scales, with class leaders on the nonqualified 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 financial 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 staffing
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 financial 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 five 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 conflict, and a balance or compromise is necessary. For example,
although families and pupils often benefit 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.
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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 influence your financial 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 parttime, 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 first 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 five 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, specifics 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 influencing
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 financial
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 sacrifice that by growing too big.
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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 fulfil.
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 find 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 infinite 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 significantly 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 specific curriculum
opportunities.
The first 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 fire risk assessment to comply with fire
regulations for the workplace and this needs to be done prior to registration. Examples of necessary
measures include having a fire alarm and fire-proofing 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 find out
all you need to do to comply with the fire regulations and to get a fire certificate which you will need
to submit with your registration. In addition, companies that provide fire extinguishers often have the
knowledge necessary to advise you, and so getting guidance from one of the local providers (e.g.
Chubb) is a good idea. Just be aware that they are also there to sell their products.
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4.4.3 Health and safety

If some rooms are going to be used for just one child and one adult on their own, then you must be
able to see into the room (for example, a window or a visibility panel).
All glass has to be plate glass that is, shatterproof.
In practice, it is sometimes hard to know what statutory or regulatory requirements are until you get
inspected. Guidance on classroom sizes is particularly vague, while the overall requirement is that
they should ensure pupils health and safety and accommodate effective delivery of the curriculum.
Where there are large numbers of adults in the room, this will need to be taken into account.
Because we operated a 1:1 staff:pupil ratio, but had only five pupils in each
class, it was hard to translate the DfES guidelines into our situation. The
HMI said that her assessment (that our premises were too small) was
done through a visual appraisal rather than anything else.
Step by Step have had access to pro-bono services of a technical adviser, and hired a consultant to
advise on compliance with all Health and Safety regulations.
4.5
School fees and financing the organisation

In an ideal world, the process of establishing school fees would be a straightforward one, but in
practice each school in its start-up phase will need to take into account what the market can bear.
Several schools have started by subsidising the cost of each childs education, with a plan to
obtain full cost recovery in time, once the reputation and quality of the school have been secured
and evidenced for example, via a favourable inspection, or when the number of pupils reaches a
critical mass .
Be warned that it is not legal for schools to compare notes on their planned school fees prior to
setting them because discussion could lead to schools altering how much they charge parents or
LAs and this is deemed to be anti-competitive practice under the Competition Act 1998. Schools
have taken this very seriously after it was discovered in 2005 that some private schools had colluded
prior to setting their fees.
This does not mean that the information should be a close secret for example, LAs, prospective
parents and general enquirers may all legitimately want to find out what a schools fees are once
they have been set.
Here is a quick rule-of-thumb guide on how you might go about setting your fees at start-up:
1. Calculate the average cost of a place
2. Decide on whether you intend to vary fees according to pupil needs or to set general fee levels
3. Identify whether subsidising places through fundraising is viable in the short term
4. Gauge what you think the local market can bear
5. Set a fee
4.5.1 Calculating the average cost of a place
In order to arrive at an idea of the average cost of a place, look at the overall costs to the
organisation, divided by the number of pupils. This will be a detailed piece of work, and different
schools have their own ways of approaching it. However, below is a rough indicator of the things you
need to take into account.
Overall costs are broken down as follows:
Staffing
The bulk of the annual running cost to your organisation is going to be staffing. This is true of all
schools, but even more so in the case of special schools where the staff:pupil ratio is likely to be
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high. Your costs will therefore be highly sensitive to pay increases. Additional staffing costs for items
such as caretaking, lunch cover, extra therapy and curriculum input, as well as management and
training, finance and administration, all need to be factored in.
Premises and running costs
If you are renting, the costs of premises needs to cover this, as will an imputed cost for premises
if you own your premises. You will also need to budget for depreciation on all assets, plus ongoing
maintenance, utilities, IT, cleaning, and insurance.
Reserves
Charities will be audited against SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) and the existence of
a policy on reserves is a necessary part of this. Beware, though, that the fees you are charging to
LAs are covering the actual cost of the childs education and reasonable reserves, not generating
surpluses to be used on other aspects of the charitys activities.
The Charity Commission guidance on reserves does not suggest that charities should set a specific
amount but that they should have an agreed policy on reserves based on the organisations
identified needs and risks. Many schools see six months running costs as the ideal to aim for but
few can achieve this! Many see three months running costs as a minimum because of the need to
give most qualified staff three months notice of termination of employment. Staffing covers about
80% of most schools costs but other issues to factor in are contracts for services such as energy,
telephones, computers, etc. Reserves should allow all financial commitments to be met if a school
should have to close.
Your auditors may also have a view on your reserves policy.
Management and development
This may all rely initially on the tireless voluntary work of the founders. However, it is in principle
legitimate to allocate a cost to this crucial area of activity from the outset, and is certainly something
that will require funding in anything other than the short-term.
4.5.2 Deciding on approach to pupil by pupil vs general fee levels
If a child needs a particularly high staff:pupil ratio it may be possible to go back to the LA and argue
the case for additional funding for that pupil. This is best done if you are transparent about your
other costs.
Most schools have not started with differentiated fee levels, though specific pupil packages have
evolved in a couple of schools in exceptional circumstances.
The danger of relying solely on specific pupil packages is that it makes forecasting particularly
unreliable. Also, the ease with which these specific packages have been negotiated varies
tremendously. In a couple of cases, it has entailed quite a straightforward negotiation with the LA,
but in one case it required a protracted process involving independent assessments and a longdrawn-out dispute.
4.5.3 Is it possible to subsidise places via fundraising?
You will probably seek to set an annual fundraising target (see section 3.5) and your trustees/
management committee will need to be clear about how realistic it is if you do intend to charge fees
at less than the full cost of the place. While this may be possible in the short term while you are in
the start-up phase, in the long run it will be very hard to sustain the fundraising effort involved in
subsidising places since most grant-making trusts and donors will argue that they are being asked
to fund something for which statutory funding should be available. This will have a knock-on impact
on fee rises and relationships with LAs (see 4.5.5 below).
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4.5.4 Gauging the local market

LAs are not going to be keen to pay high fees because of the limits on their budgets and their legal
requirement to meet the needs of all the children with SEN in their area. Clearly, if you set your fees
high, you can anticipate greater reluctance to fund pupils places.
If LAs do not have alternative provision for the pupils, you are in a stronger position in the market.
Where there are local maintained schools that the LA argues can meet the needs of the pupils
you are hoping to attract, parents may have to go to SENDIST in order to appeal against the LAs
decision. The ability, or otherwise, of the LA to argue successfully that their own provision meets the
childs needs will be a key factor on the outcome.
4.5.5 Fee increases over time
Local Authorities mostly accept fee increases in line with pay increases, so the national pay scales
agreement will be something you need to be abreast of.
There may be critical points in your schools development at which you can raise the fees by a
significant percentage (above the pay increase), but to do this year on year will not go down well.
Such critical points need to be accompanied by full explanation to the LAs, and will be, for example,
when you have suddenly had to incur additional premises costs, or when your trustees make a policy
decision to stop subsidising places perhaps once you have grown to a size when it is reasonable
for all fixed costs and overheads to be covered by the pupils fees. It will help your case if this is
compatible with your business planning, rather than indicating a panic response to unforeseen
circumstances, and if you give sufficient warning (e.g. six months).
Remember that significant rises in fees can damage relationships with your LAs for a long time;
some schools in this guide have said that, in hindsight, they should have set a full-cost fee from the
outset.
4.5.6 The National Contract
NASS, the ADCS, Regional Partnerships, NCERCC, and the Local Government Association have
developed the National Contract for placements in independent and non-maintained special schools,
with the support of the DCSF. The Contract aims to support schools that work with a number of LAs
by offering a single contract that is now used by over 100 LAs. In essence the contract is a useful
document protecting both school and authority by setting out clear conditions.
NASS recommends that the contract is used by all independent special schools. Some placing
authorities are not keen to place in schools that do not use the Contract. The Contract can be
useful for schools with little experience of contracting as it has been developed by schools and
commissioners with experience and expertise in this area. The Contract covers all key areas of
provision and sets an expectation of how schools and authorities will set and meet annual fee
increases. However, each Contract focuses on the needs of the individual child being placed via the
Individual Placement Schedule.
Not all the schools in this guide use the National Contract because, despite all the advantages, they
prefer to maintain more flexibility, particularly in their early years of development. However, it should
be noted that the Jigsaw CABAS School has been able to negotiate some specific amendments
to the National Contract. Fee increases need to be supported by budgetary analysis and fee setting
should be transparent, and in their experience this is achievable and not hindered by signing up to
the National Contract.
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5. The work involved in registering as a school

5.1
Registering as a school
As well as the organisational considerations set out in sections 3 and 4, you will need to address the
specific requirements of registering as a school.
At the time of writing, the DCSF is considering transferring responsibility for registering
schools to Ofsted. The following information may be subject to revision within the near future.
An essential guide, which covers in more detail some of the basics that are set out in the next
sections, is the DCSF Registration of Independent Schools Information Pack. This is free and will be
sent to you on request from Independent Education and Boarding Team, DCSF 01325 392159 or
email to registration.enquiries@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
It will provide definitions of some of the terms below and it points you to all the relevant statutory
requirements that you will need to fulfil.
Before you take any pupils you are required, by law, to be registered with the DCSF. This applies in
the event of:
providing full time education for five or more pupils of compulsory school age
providing full time education for one pupil if the pupil has a statement of SEN (and/or is a
Looked After Child)
If you are starting out with children of pre-school age, you will still need to fulfil other requirements
for the provision of under-fives. Contact your local Childrens Services Department to inform them
of your intentions and to identify any local requirements, and you will need to register with Ofsted,
under whose inspection framework you will fall. For information about this, go to www.ofsted.gov.uk.
While doing all this, you will also be planning ahead for the point at which the children do reach
compulsory school age which will come around very quickly!
5.2
What is involved in registering and how long does it take?

It is likely to take a good six months in total. First, you will need to draw up a range of plans and
documents to accompany the DCSF application form, and then it will then take a further three
months for an Ofsted inspection following receipt of the application, before the school can open.
The documents accompanying the application form include:
a plan of the premises
curriculum policies, schemes of work and assessment methods
policies covering bullying, safeguarding children, health and safety, and challenging
behaviour
a school risk assessment to comply with fire regulations for the workplace
a Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure Form covering the schools proprietors
Once the school has been open for three months, the DCSF will require you to submit a second form
with details of pupil numbers, fees and employee details, and a second Ofsted inspection will have
to take place.
5.3
Policies and information to parents and prospective parents

You are required to provide information about contact details of the proprietor as well as a range
of policies including admissions, discipline, exclusions, a statement of the schools ethos and aims,
and the complaints procedure. Schools have varied in how they have gone about researching and
preparing this material, but the general approaches can be listed as follows:
1. Paid consultancy to deliver specific aspects, bought from other schools, individuals or group-ofschools (commercial or charitable)
2. Copying or being given helpful examples (always with permission) from other schools,
particularly special schools, both in maintained and private sectors
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3. Working on policies from first principles, using in-house expertise

4. Accessing examples on the web, such as teachernet or governornet (see below)
5. Accessing local policies, guidance and training in Child Protection, Health and Safety, and First
Aid from the host LA
These are not mutually exclusive. Most of the schools in this guide have done a mixture of all five.
The factors influencing the balance between one to five will include how constructive a relationship
you build with your LA or another school or provider, how much in-house expertise and time you
have, and what you can afford if you choose paid consultancy.
Do bear in mind that ideally schools need to think through and work out all these policies individually
and there is a limit to what you can access off the shelf. Even if your first priority is just to show you
have documentation necessary for registration, these policies are meaningful and will underpin and
guide what happens in your school. They will also need regular updates; some requiring reviews
annually, others less frequently.
Even though as an independent school you will not be bound by all the requirements of a
maintained school, it is still very helpful to keep up-to-date with the key developments and good
practice recommendations in the wider educational community:
www.governornet.co.uk for useful information and updates about policies and regulations
relating to all aspects of school governance, including responsibilities for staffing,
premises, curriculum, etc.
www.teachernet.gov.uk for all aspects of education provision, management, policies,
staffing, curriculum, etc.
5.4
Curriculum policy, schemes of work and assessment methods

This information will need to be provided as part of the registration application. The curriculum
policy will cover the schools approach to teaching, supported by schemes of work for each subject
taught. All schools applying for registration need to demonstrate how they will address the spiritual,
moral, social, and cultural developments of pupils, and illustrate how they will incorporate linguistic,
mathematical, scientific, technological, human and social, and physical aesthetic/creative areas in
their curriculum.
There is no blueprint for devising a curriculum and this is an area where professional expertise
and familiarity with curriculum frameworks is necessary. How the curriculum is planned will also
be dependent on the abilities and ages of the pupils at your school. All the above areas will
be approached very differently according to the needs of the pupils; it is highly likely that for a
special school responding to the needs of pupils with autism, you will have to demonstrate marked
curriculum differentiation and you may choose to highlight areas of particular emphasis.
Although an independent school is not required by the regulations to cover the National Curriculum,
it has been the experience of the schools involved in this guide that planning the pupils learning
against the National Curriculum headings has been helpful in terms of explaining the work of
the school to inspectors and local authorities. Also, it is common for Statements of SEN to make
reference to the National Curriculum in part 3, and independent schools will have to deliver what is
in the Statement.
Information about the National Curriculum can be obtained from:
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
83 Piccadilly
London W1J 8QA
Tel 020 7509 5555
www.gca.org.uk
For further guidance, refer to the DCSF information pack and websites above.
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5.5
Recruitment and child protection

A new Independent Safeguarding Authority has been set up as a single agency to vet all individuals
who want to work or volunteer with vulnerable people. It will be relevant for all new appointments,
both paid and unpaid, including trustees and governing body members.
This is a new body but it will work closely with the Criminal Records Bureau (see below). The service
will become operational in October 2009 but you are strongly advised to check for up-to-date
information on an ongoing basis, both before and after that date.
Please go to www.isa-gov.org.uk or phone the Lo-call rate information line on 0300 123 1111.
5.5.1 Criminal Records Bureau checks
A Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure Form covering the schools proprietors will need to be
submitted direct to the DCSF when you apply for registration. Once the school is open, CRB forms
need to be filled in for all staff and volunteers who are linked with the school, including trustees and
governing body members.
Enhanced Disclosures must be obtained for proprietors where they will be engaged in training,
supervising or being in sole charge of young people under the age of 18. They are also necessary
for all staff and volunteers whose work involves this level of contact with young people.
Go to www.crb.gov.uk for the latest information on CRBs.
You will see that most organisations are being encouraged to access CRB checks via an umbrella
body. This applies particularly to small organisations (such as a school) where the volume of checks
per year will not be sufficient to register as a processing organisation in their own right. You will
need to shop around, and most umbrella bodies charge a registration fee. Rainbow have found an
organisation called Capita who process CRB checks for free providing they are for staff working with
children under the age of eight.
In addition to the above, List 99 contains the names of people who are considered unsuitable
for work with children, held by the DCSF. Appointment of anyone on List 99 will make the school
vulnerable to being de-registered and closed.
5.5.2 Additional child protection safeguards
Schools are required to ensure that they have taken all appropriate checks to verify prospective
staffs identify, previous employment history, and qualifications as well as undertaking a CRB check.
Each school will also require a designated child protection officer (often the headteacher) and
ensure that all staff are given appropriate training, updated at least every two years for designated
officers and every three years for other school staff. Several schools access the training provided by
the LA or Local Safeguarding Children Board, though often they have been charged for this.
The legal requirements are set out in section 175 of the Education Act 2002, with accompanying
guidance in Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education which can be downloaded
from www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00175.
There are requirements on all independent schools to follow safe recruitment practice and to have
at least one person on any recruitment panel that has gone through the NCSL safer recruitment
training. This can be accessed on-line whilst some organisations run face to face courses.
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6. When the school has opened: Things to plan for

It is tempting to work towards the registration, and then opening, of the school as the end of your
story. You have achieved a huge amount, and fulfilled your initial goal. It can be daunting then to
recognise that actually this is just the beginning However hard it is to get going, sustaining the
momentum once youve opened is when some of the real challenges begin
Dont think youve done it once the school has opened. It will
follow you wherever you go. Every year we have a crisis.
You have to keep planning for everything. If you look at Ofsted and inspections, you
are always reviewing. You should always have a development/improvement plan
running alongside with what youre dong. Rules change, legislation changes.
With this in mind, we wanted to give you just a taster of the issues you will need to address. It never
stops, but our advice is that while planning is crucial, do not let terror paralyse you! Just take one
step at a time.
6.1
Inspections and information required by government

First, there will be things you need to plan for as part of the regular round of inspections and
reporting in order to maintain registration. If the school fails to meet the required standards, the
ultimate sanction is to remove it from the Register of independent schools.
6.1.1 Inspections
Once you have achieved registration as an independent school you will be inspected by Ofsted on
a three-year cycle under section 162A of the Education Act 2002 as amended by schedule 8 of the
Education Act 2005.
Details of the process are given on the Ofsted website www.ofsted.gov.uk.
6.1.2 Informing the DCSF of changes
You will need to notify the Secretary of State of significant changes, including changes of proprietor,
school address, age range, or maximum number of pupils, accompanied by plans for staff
numbers and qualifications. In the latter cases, you will need to demonstrate that you can meet the
appropriate needs, and accompanying plans and documents will be required, including plans for
staff numbers and qualifications. Some of these changes will trigger an inspection.
6.2
Things to plan for

There will also be a whole range of areas in which planning is essential and issues will need to be
tackled on an ongoing basis.
Here are just a few such areas, to give you a taster:
6.2.1 Growth
How do your original plans compare with the benefit of experience? Are you taking new
pupils at the rate you expected?
How does this affect your cash-flow and your financial projections?
Is the administrative load sustainable under current resourcing?
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6.2.2 Relationships
Have relationships with LAs, other schools, landlords, funders, and so on developed as
you had hoped? How can you plan to develop these?
Are parents being involved as partners in the school in a way that balances the
professional and parental perspective effectively? Will there need to be adjustments as
the school evolves and matures?
Are the founders still on board? If there are substantial differences, might you have to
agree to a parting of the ways? Will you need to take on more trustees and advisers?
6.2.3 Staffing and organisational structure
Are the lines of accountability and reporting evolving as the school matures? Will you be
able to demonstrate them in such a way that they will be clear to external stakeholders
(e.g. funders, inspectors)?
Is there a rapid staff turnover and, if so, will you be able to look at ways to address this?
Are you managing to ensure recruitment of people with the right potential or set of skills?
6.2.4 Revisiting your strategy
Are you still seeking to fulfil your aims and targets, as set out in your original literature and
business plan, or will you need to revise these in light of experience?
6.3
Accessing useful resources and networks

Because every locality and every school is unique, there is no simple list available of helpful
resources, contacts, organisations to join or recommended partnerships and networks. Instead,
below are just a few examples of the kinds of things that the schools in this guide have found useful
for ongoing support, so that you can research equivalent facilities for your school.
6.3.1 Local Lending Resource Libraries
Some LAs operate resource libraries for all local schools in their area. In return for an annual
subscription (maybe 500), schools will be allowed to borrow any number of resources.
For us its a fabulous resource which we use constantly, gives us access to all sorts of
books, teaching guides, learning materials, big books, puppets, even Arabic/English
dictionaries. Must have saved us a fortune in buying resources over the years.
6.3.2 NAS Partners in Autism
This is one example of how to work in partnership with other organisations working in the field of
autism. These meetings enable you to make contact with local partners, keeping up to date with
local developments and sharing information.
Other resources are contained on pages 39 to 43.
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7. Concluding remarks
In preparing this guide, the participating schools have all had a chance to look back and reflect on
the challenges that have faced them over the years, as well as recognising those that still lie ahead.
Here are some of the concluding comments that contributors have made, which we leave you with.
Although at times its been incredibly stressful and very hard, and there have been
many sleepless nights wondering where the money is going to come from, or
how we are going to achieve our goals, my heart swells with pride when I see the
progress our pupils make or have made. The gratitude of their parents is often
overwhelming, but a wonderful reward, and I often have to pinch myself when
I think that thanks to a group of gutsy parents we have climbed a mountain
and although were not at the top yet, were too high now to descend.
I sometimes say that I wouldnt wish setting up a school on my worst enemy. I also
get very angry when its put forward as a general policy solution, because parents
have enough on their plates and shouldnt be expected to compensate for system
failures. And yet I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of it; Ive met
amazing people, Ive learnt so much. When things get really low I just look at our
wonderful kids, our amazing teachers, and think were all on a great adventure.
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Glossary
ABA Applied Behaviour Analysis In general,
ABA refers to using what we know scientifically
about behaviour in order to bring about positive
change (i.e. the learning of specific skills), and it
covers a broad school of thought and published
literature within the fields of education and
psychology. In the specific context of this guide
it refers to the use of the principles of ABA to
teach children and young people with autism.
There are several specific applications within
the field of education that emphasise different
aspects of the science and associated methods:
examples include Verbal Behaviour, Precision
Teaching, Natural Environment Training, etc. See
the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (www.
bacb.com) and the Association for Behavior
Analysis International (www.abainternational.
org) for further details about ABA, and the
Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (www.
behavior.org) for further details about different
applications of ABA.
ADCS The Association of Directors of
Childrens Services is the national leadership
Association in England for statutory directors of
childrens services and other childrens services
professionals in leadership roles.
www.adcs.org.uk
BCABA Board Certified Associate
Behaviour Analyst One of the qualifications
conferred by the international Behaviour
Analysis Certification Board. www.bacb.com
BCBA Board Certified Behaviour Analyst
Qualification conferred by the international
BACB above.
Board of Trustees Body of volunteer
individuals who are legally responsible for the
charity. For further information about roles and
responsibilities, see below under NCVO and
Charity Commission.
CABAS Comprehensive Application of
Behavioural Analysis to Schooling A specific
behavioural model of schooling with its own
Board and certification/practice requirements.
CABAS schools operate in the US and Europe.
www.cabas.com
Charity Commission National body that
registers, advises and regulates the operation
of charities in the UK. Has offices in London,
Liverpool, Taunton, Newport. Tel 0845 3000 218
www.charity-commission.gov.uk
Childrens Services Department The

department within each local authority
responsible for children, combining what were
formerly separate education and social services
departments.
Companies House The official government
body that registers and regulates the operation
of companies in the UK.
www.companieshouse.gov.uk
CRB Criminal Records Bureau An executive
agency of the Home Office which vets
applications for people who want to work with
children and vulnerable people.
www.crb.gov.uk
CVS Council for Voluntary Service For
information about your local CVS go to the
NAVCA directory of members and local contacts,
which can be accessed via www.navca.org.uk/
liodir
D1 use An official classification of property
usage governing non-residential premises within
building and planning regulations. For further
information contact your local authority planning
department.
DCSF Department for Children, Schools
and Families (formerly DfES) The government
department which has responsibility for children
and childrens services including schools and
early years in England and Wales www.dcsf.gov.
uk, 0870 000 2288. Department for Children,
Schools and Families, Sanctuary Buildings,
Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT.
DEFRA Department for the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs
www.defra.gov.uk
DfES Department for Education and Skills
(now DCSF) www.dfes.gov.uk
Earlybird A parent support and training
programme run and/or franchised by the
National Autistic Society.
www.nas.org.uk/earlybird
EOTAS an acronym for Education Other Than
At School. EOTAS support services are run
differently in different LAs.
Governing Body body of individuals who
are legally responsible for a school. For further
information see governornet.co.uk
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HMI Her Majestys Inspector of Education

Official inspector under the auspices of HMIE
(Her Majestys Inspectorate of Education)
the official body responsible for evaluating
educational establishments (including schools
and early years settings).
Home programmes Usually refers to homebased teaching for children with autism using
the principles of ABA.
ISA Independent Safeguarding Authority
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
has been created to help prevent unsuitable
people from working with children and
vulnerable adults. They work in partnership with
the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which will
gather relevant information on every person
who wants to work or volunteer with vulnerable
people. www.isa-gov.org.uk
LA Local Authority The local government
body in your area responsible for several
aspects of local government, including
education.
LEA A Local Education Authority is the part of
a local council or local authority (LA) in England
and Wales that is responsible for education
within that councils jurisdiction. The phrase is
now obsolete in official use, but is still frequently
used informally to refer to the Education
Department of the relevant local authority.
List 99 List of individuals who have been
debarred from teaching.
Local Government Association A voluntary
organisation representing and informing its
member local councils and authorities in
England and Wales. www.lga.gov.uk
as a nationwide curriculum for primary and

secondary schools, to ensure that all pupils will
be able to access key areas of learning. For
further information see QCA.
NCERCC The National Centre for Excellence
in Residential Child Care (NCERCC) works to
improve standards of practice and outcomes
for residential child care in England, funded by
the DCSF and based at the National Childrens
Bureau. www.ncb.org.uk (search on the NCB
website for NCERCC).
NCSL National College for School
Leadership
www.ncsl.org.uk
NCVO National Council for Voluntary
Organisations. A membership organisation, itself
a charity, set up to support, inform, advise and
campaign for the charitable sector.
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
Help desk 0800 2 798 798
or HelpDesk@ncvo-vol.org.uk
Non-Maintained Special School NMSS For
further information, contact NASS (National
Association of independent Schools and NonMaintained Special Schools). www.nasschools.
org.uk
Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education,
Childrens Services and Skills. This is the official
body for inspecting and regulating schools and
care settings. www.ofsted.gov.uk
PGCE Postgraduate Certificate of Education.
Qualification conferred on graduates who have
successfully completed professional teaching
qualification. For further information see TDA.
Pro-bono Assistance offered free of charge.
NAS National Autistic Society UK-wide

charity in relation to autism, with regional teams
and a local branch network. Runs national
helpline and advice services and a range
of direct and volunteer services alongside
campaigning, publications and local resource
directory.
NASS National Association of independent
Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools
www.nasschools.org.uk
National Childrens Bureau (NCB National
umbrella childrens charity www.ncb.org.uk
National Curriculum The National Curriculum
applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
QCA Qualifications and Curriculum

Authority The regulatory body for public
examinations and publicly funded qualifications
including the curriculum for the under-5s, the
National Curriculum, and GCSEs. 83 Piccadilly,
London W1J 9QA, 020 7509 5555
www.qca.org.uk
Qualified Teachers Qualified teacher status
(QTS) is the accreditation that enables you to
teach in state-maintained and special schools in
England and Wales. For further information see
Regional Partnerships The DfES established
11 SEN Regional Partnerships which covered
all local authorities in England. In 2007 they
became 9 Regional Partnerships, coterminous
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with Government Office regions. Although

funding has now been discontinued, you will
find a lot of information about their work on
teachernet.
SEN Special Educational Needs
SEN Code of Practice Published by the DCSF,
this is the national framework of requirements for
how SEN provision is delivered in England and
Wales.
SENDIST Special Educational Needs and
Disability Tribunal. The Special Educational
Needs and Disability Tribunal considers
parents appeals against the decisions of Local
Education Authorities (LEAs) about childrens
special educational needs if parents cannot
reach agreement with the LEA. The Tribunal is
independent. www.sendist.gov.uk
SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice)
Accounting procedures for charities. For further
information see the Charity Commission.
Statements (part 4) The legal document setting
out the needs and provision that the local
authority is required to meet for an individual
child with SEN if their needs cannot be met
at school level (see Code of Practice) within
England and Wales
Tribunals See under SENDIST.
TDA Training and Development Agency
for Schools. It is the national agency and
responsible for the training and development of
the school workforce.
www.tda.gov.uk/resources
Education sources
and organisations
ACE (Advisory Centre for Education)
Education helpline 0808 800 5739.
www.ace-ed.org.uk
An independent education advice centre.
Building Bulletins including Designing
for children and young people with special
educational needs or disabilities in mainstream
and special schools.
Downloadable from: www.teachernet.gov.uk/
management/resourcesfinanceandbuilding/
schoolbuildings/designguidance/
SENandDisabilities/
Butterworths Law of Education A regularly

updated manual of all the Acts, regulations
and statutory guidance affecting education in
England and Wales. It is available on CD as well
as in hard copy format. It has the advantage
of being indexed and includes explanations of
when and why major changes were made.
CRONER-i Education An on-line subscription
service aimed specifically at the independent
sector covering the full range of legal
requirements concerning employment, health
and safety, special educational needs, premises
and governance, etc. www.croner.co.uk
DCSF Governors Guide to the Law (2008)
downloadable from: www.governornet.co.uk/
publishList.cfm?topicAreaId=26
Includes information on health and safety,
employment and equal opportunities which
apply to all types of schools. Much is relevant
only to state maintained schools but it is still
a useful guide for what is considered best
practice, in the absence of similar guides to
independent schools.
Education Otherwise
www.education-otherwise.org
Governornet provides information to school
governors on a whole range of issues including
staffing and personnel, premises regulations,
roles and responsibilities, training, and guide to
the law. www.governornet.co.uk
Health and Safety: responsibility and powers
Leaflet which provides links to legislation and
guidance on risk assessment, school premises,
pupils with medical problems, school visits etc.
Downloadable from www.teachernet.gov.uk/
wholeschool/healthandsafety/responsibilities/
Home education www.home-education.org.uk
Inspection guide The Framework for
Inspecting Independent Schools, April 2008,
is downloadable from the Ofsted website, but
please note this is subject to change.
www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-andguidance/Browse-all-forms-and-guidanceby/Title-A-to-Z/Framework-for-inspectingindependent-schools/(language)/eng-GB
IPSEA (Independent Panel for Special
Education Advice)
www.ipsea.org.uk
6 Carlow Mews
Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 1EA
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Advice line 0800 018 4016

General contact 01394 38471
National Autistic Society
393 City Road
London EC1V 1NG
General helpline 0845 070 4004
Advocacy for Education Service 0845 070 4002
www.nas.org.uk
National Association of independent Schools
and Non-Maintained Special Schools
www.nasschools.org.uk
Membership organisation for special schools not
maintained by local authorities. Provides advice,
support, lobbying, training, and conferences.
A central point of contact for the sector. NASS
offers associate membership to new schools
working towards their first full Ofsted inspection.
Associate members get a regular e-newsletter
and reduced price access to NASS training
events and conferences.
Public Benefit Guidance available from the
Charities Commission. www.charitycommission.
gov.uk/publicbenefit/
From April 2008, all organisations wishing to be
recognised as charities have had to demonstrate
explicitly that their aims are for the public benefit.
Previously, the law presumed this to be the case
for charities that advance education for example.
QCA Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority
83 Piccadilly
London W1J 9QA
020 7509 5555
www.qca.org.uk
The regulatory body for public examinations
and publicly funded qualifications including
the curriculum for the under-fives, the National
Curriculum, and GCSEs.
SEN Code of Practice (English code 2001)

www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.
cfm?id=3724.
Also available in hard copy from 0845 60 222 60.
(Welsh code 2002). Also available in hard copy
from 029 2082 3683.
The Code provides guidance to schools, local
authorities and other agencies on the framework
for identifying, assessing and making statements
for children with special educational needs and
reviewing statements.
TDA Training and Development Agency for
Schools.
www.tda.gov.uk
It is the national agency and responsible for
the training and development of the school
workforce.
Teachernet
www.teachernet.gov.uk
Official website for all aspects of educational
provision, management, policies, staffing,
curriculum, and so on.
The Disability Rights Commission Code of
Practice for Schools 2002
www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/
publicationsandresources/Disability/Pages/
Education.aspx
Also available in hard copy from 08457 622 633.
Provides statutory guidance on the duties not
to discriminate against disabled pupils and
prospective pupils in the provision of education
and associated services in schools, and in
respect of admissions and exclusions. The law
applies equally to independent and maintained
schools.
Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment

in Education
Downloadable: www.teachernet.gov.
uk/wholeschool/familyandcommunity/
childprotection
Guidance on recruitment, vetting checks, and
duties for safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children in education. All schools,
including non-maintained schools and
independent schools, should use this guidance
for safeguarding children and dealing with
allegations of abuse made against teachers and
education staff.
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Schools and
units mentioned
in this guide
Chrysalis
www.chrysalisschool.org
www.jigsawschool.co.uk
Pembrokeshire ABA project
www.pembrokeshireabacentre.com
Quest
www.questschool.co.uk
Rainbow
www.rainbowcharity.org.uk
Step by Step
www.stepbystepschool.org.uk
SPEAC
www.speac-centre.org
TreeHouse
www.treehouse.org.uk
Treetops School
Eriff Drive
South Ockendon
Essex RM15 5AY
01375 372723
Westwood
m.saville@bangor.ac.uk
Charity and
fundraising resources
and organisations
Business in the Community works with
businesses who are committed to Corporate
Social Responsbility, provides advice, networks,
campaigns and a list of firms who are willing to
offer pro-bono help to voluntary organisaitons.
www.bitc.org
Charities Aid Foundation a charity which

helps other charities through consultancy and
advice on finance, fundraising, business and
strategic planning, and also has a specialist
banking service. www.cafonline.org
Constructive Campaigning for Autism
Services: The PACE Parents Handbook,
Armorer Wason Jessica Kingsley Publishers
2005.
Directory of Social Change a charity which
provides information and training to voluntary
organisations on a range of issues including
fundraising, policy and campaigning. Publishes
a series of useful guides.
www.dsc.org.uk
NAS National Autistic Society UK-wide
charity in relation to autism, with regional teams
and a local branch network. Runs national
helpline and advice services, and a range of
direct and volunteer services, campaigning,
publications and local resource directory.
NAVCA the National Association for
Voluntary and Community Action Promotes
and supports voluntary organisations by
providing its members with information, advice,
networking and learning opportunities, support,
and development services. www.navca.org.uk
NCVO National Council for Voluntary
Organisations A membership organisation,
itself a charity, set up to support, inform, advise
and campaign for the charitable sector.
Help desk 0800 2 798 798
or HelpDesk@ncvo-vol.org.uk
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
Organisations set up to help charities/
additional fundraising links:
www.charitiesbuyinggroup.com
www.fundinginformation.org.uk
www.trustfunding.org.uk
www.governmentfunding.org.uk
www.guidestar.org.uk
www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk
www.charitiesbuyinggroup.com
www.inkinddirect.org
Charity Commission National body that

registers, advises and regulates the operation
of charities in the UK. Has offices in London,
Liverpool, Taunton, Newport.
Tel 0845 3000 218
www.charity-commission.gov.uk
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Schools from Scratch

An essential guide to setting up a special school

I dont know how we did it. It was a bit