SEND: 'Just one or two sizes do not fit all'

The government’s proposed four‑tier SEND system is being marketed as a route to ‘clarity’ and ‘consistency'. In reality, for schools like Heathfield Knoll and its Connect base, it risks a flattening out of need.

Under the reforms, support is to be organised into four nationally defined levels, with standardised descriptors and menus of provision. Local Inclusion Plans will spell out what schools must deliver at each tier before an EHCP is considered. On paper, this looks tidy. In practice, it shifts the question from ‘What does this child need?’ to ‘Which box does this child fit, and what’s the cheapest way to fill it?’

Connect was established in 2020 because the school and prospective parents recognised that just one or two sizes do not fit all. Heathfield Knoll was receiving referrals for pupils who couldn’t cope in large mainstream classrooms but didn’t meet special school thresholds. Connect is a purpose-built ‘bridge’ between mainstream and specialist provision; it provides spaces appropriate for our SEND learners to thrive – a small, sensory‑informed alternative provision on site, with four calm classrooms around a breakout space, a life‑skills kitchen, an OT‑designed sensory room and a quiet space.

Every pupil has a personalised ‘How I present and how we manage that’ profile, written with families and refined as staff learn what works. For one child, that might mean a phased timetable that changes weekly; for another, a carefully balanced mix of Connect lessons and mainstream classes; for a third, specialist dyslexia teaching, counselling and assistive technology. Readily available access to professionals working in autism outreach, speech and language, occupational therapy and counselling ensures that information is collated and used to inform joined-up decision making with the child, parents and the local authority.

Such a blended and individual approach has achieved remarkable outcomes. A child with ADHD, anxiety and a history of self‑harm and school refusal has moved from 0% attendance to four full days a week and is now mentoring younger pupils while planning realistic next steps. Another child, out of school for three years with ASD and selective mutism, now attends 91% of the time, works at age‑related expectations and is entered for higher‑tier GCSE exams. 

85% of pupils meet their end‑of‑year academic targets, and a recent inspection noted that Connect has had “a profound transformation in the quality of their life”. Parents echo this: “Without Connect, my child would still be out of school”; “They have given us our daughter back”; “I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful setting for my daughter.”

Connect has not been successful because of a four-tier flowchart. It came from giving each child an opportunity to flourish, a skilled team that has the freedom to make a difference and a free-flowing model of continuous provision. The fear is that once national tiers become the gatekeepers to an EHCP, the pressure on local authorities to hold pupils at lower levels will be intense. For settings like Connect, that risks fewer children qualifying for the specialist, small‑class provision that demonstrably works, and more being left to struggle within generic ‘Targeted’ or ‘Targeted Plus’ offers.

If ministers are serious about improving SEND, they should ask a different question: How do we create more Connects? How do we fund and protect embedded alternative provisions with the freedom to design around real children, not around a four‑box diagram? A rigid national tier system may simplify spreadsheets, but it will not deliver the kind of big, sustained change that Heathfield Knoll’s pupils and families have already shown is possible.