Category: Surveys

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Additional Mental Health Support
3. Additional Support for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities:
4. Adaptable Teaching Styles & Understanding Needs
5. 1:1 Support
6. Local Alternative Provision

Introduction

Alternative Provision is education outside school for pupils who don’t attend mainstream school for reasons which might include being excluded, behaviour concerns, mental health or illness. Examples of Alternative Provision include Pupil Referral Units, the Alternative Learning Programme (ALP), Short Stay Schools and Access to Education (A2E).

Surrey County Council are redesigning the strategy for Alternative Provision and the User Voice and Participation Team created two online surveys to get the views of children, young people, parents and carers. The surveys were open from 23^rd October 2020 – 17^th November 2020. We received responses from 65 children and young people and 78 parents and carers. Below are the main things that respondents told us they would like to see in Alternative Provision:

Additional Mental Health Support

38% of children and young people said that mental health was one of the main barriers that affected them staying in mainstream education. Parents and carers also expressed that mental health was a significant issue that they felt needed attention. Therefore, more mental health support is needed to help children and young people to remain in education. Children and young people need to be able to access support easily and in a timely manner to ensure that their mental health issues are addressed quickly, and their education is not affected.

This is what some of the respondents had to say:

‘I could benefit by having someone to talk to whenever I’m feeling down or nervous, someone who could help me when I’m stressed or struggling with work etc’ Young person

‘Someone in the room knowing about my mental health and actually taking the time to help me, without cutting corners’ Young person

‘Support from a doctor or mental health professional as needed’ Parent/Carer.

Additional Support for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

44% of parents and carers said that undiagnosed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or lack of support for those with SEND was the main barrier to their child or young person remaining in mainstream education. A number of children and young people also said that they felt their additional needs were a barrier to remaining in education. We therefore need to ensure that children and young people with SEND are diagnosed in a timely manner and that enough support is put in place to help them manage their education. Many parents and carers recognise that the cause of this is often due to a lack of funding for schools which is an area that they feel needs to be addressed.

This is what some of the respondents had to say:

‘People to help with understanding additional need even if people can’t see them’ Young person.

‘Struggle on daily basis – waiting assessment for ADHD – find classrooms very distracting’ Young person.

‘Teachers need more training and support in managing children with additional needs who perhaps do not have an EHCP in place’ Parent/Carer.

Adaptable Teaching Styles & Understanding Needs

A number of respondents were frustrated at the ‘one size fits all’ approach that they feel is often in place in education. It is important that teaching staff have a good understanding of their students’ individual needs and can adapt their teaching styles so that nobody gets left behind.

This is what some of the respondents had to say:

‘Teachers educated in different styles of pupil engagement and schools being adaptable to support this’ Parent/Carer.

‘Tasks explained in different ways if the first way is too difficult to understand’ Young person.

1:1 Support

When children and young people feel like they are falling behind in education, it can cause them a lot of anxiety and, due to class sizes, it is not always possible for the teacher to spend as much time as they need with individual pupils. Respondents from both surveys said that it would be beneficial to have more 1:1 support in place to help children and young people remain in education.

This is what some of the respondents had to say:

‘More 1 to 1 support earlier in schooling to prevent phobia from developing and placement to fail’ Young person.

‘Time out of the classroom and more 1-1 support’ Parent/Carer

Local Alternative Provision

Although some children and young people said that they would be happy to attend alternative provision that was in a different town, more than half said that travelling a long way was likely to affect their attendance. Similarly, over 70% of parents and carers felt that travelling a long distance would impact on their child or young person’s ability to attend e.g. due to anxiety, tiredness etc. We therefore need to ensure that we have enough Alternative Provision available across Surrey to avoid young people having to make unreasonable journeys.

This is what some of the respondents had to say:

‘The fact that I had to wake up every day and travel 2 hours a day to school and back was exhausting’ Young person.

‘This has happened to my son as he was travelling 45 minutes each way in a taxi. He is now unable to attend due to fatigue and anxiety and a reduced timetable is not an option due to the travelling time’ Parent/Carer.

Other things that respondents said they would like to see from Alternative Provision included:

• Outdoor space – ‘‘I need space to run and climb when I feel stressed’ Young person.

• Small classes and separate rooms that students can go to if they need some time out – ‘A comfortable setting, not just a classroom with different areas if I needed to be alone rather than surrounded by lots of people’ Young person.

• Nice buildings – ‘They don’t have a great space to work from. They are teaching in rundown premises which need updating and, compared to local schools, that doesn’t seem fair’ Parent/Carer.

• Kind teachers – ‘Good fun teachers that are more of a friend but can be professional when they need to be’ Young person.

If you would like to read more about the results of the surveys, please see the full reports below: