Guide to starting an Alternative Provision

This post comes out of all the questions we’ve had recently from people looking at starting an Alternative Provision that doesn’t fall under the Ofsted framework. It’s not an exhaustive list but should help you get an idea of what is required.

Our more detailed guide complete with a suite of policy templates, planning tools and additional advice is available here:

Guide to starting an Alternative Provision.

As part of the support, we give at Close the Gaps we often come across people who have ambitions to start up their own alternative provision and we answer lots of questions around this. For someone who wants to develop a specialised provision that won’t fall under the Ofsted framework here’s a guide to what you’ll need. The guide includes what you’ll need in terms of policies and paperwork to fulfil most approval processes but also some of those less obvious areas for success that come from our experience of having worked with so many provisions.

At the moment there is a real need for alternative provisions to help re-engage and support the many young people who are struggling to access mainstream education. Their needs are varied but, for many, an excellent AP can literally be life changing. The option to work as an unregistered AP is available and allows a degree of specialism and freedom that isn’t found under the Ofsted framework. Alongside this freedom however comes a responsibility to drive the high standards that the young people we work with deserve.

1)        Do a feasibility study.

You may be starting completely from scratch, or your AP may be growing organically from home schooling or an out of hours tutor service. Whatever it is, you need to be sure your idea is feasible. You want to be sure that, if you’re putting money, time and resource into making an AP happen you do all you can before you take the plunge to make sure it is going to be successful.

It's helpful to know the answers to the following questions:

·      What is the existing provision like in your area?

·      What are the exclusion/suspension rates like in local schools – is there a demand for places?

·      What kinds of needs are local commissioners looking to meet through AP placements? Who are the key decision makers in local commissioners?

·      What are the prices of local AP’s? Will your finances work on these kinds of levels? AP’s charge as little as £60 for a day of supervised work placement to £200 plus for 2:1 staff supervision placement.

The most useful people to speak to are probably the pastoral leads in local schools. Their contacts can usually be found on school websites so arrange a conversation with them, they are your future customer base, so it is a great way to make links ahead of time too. Also check out local authority websites for details of any approved provisions in the area or approval processes that are needed. It’s no use setting up an alternative provision based on the forest school model if there are already three locally who are under-subscribed.

We offer a feasibility study service where a Close the Gaps associate will do the legwork for you, analysing the local context, making links with key stakeholders and helping to inform your decision making.

2)        Know your legal position.

Alternative provisions that are unregistered under the Ofsted framework are only allowed if they don’t meet the criteria for registration as a school. An AP provider should be registered as an independent school if it provides full-time education to five or more pupils of a compulsory school age, or one such pupil who is looked-after or has an EHCP. The punishment for running an unregistered school can be a fine or imprisonment so it is important to stay within the rules.

Unfortunately, ‘full-time’ isn’t defined anywhere in terms of hours. Many AP’s use 18 hours as a guide but a place is considered to be providing full-time education if it provides ‘all, or substantially all, of a child’s education’. This can create complications where a school only provides a part-time timetable for a child, or you are working with a school refuser. Attending your provision part-time shouldn’t preclude the possibility that the pupil could attend education provided elsewhere – a part-time place of 3 hours a day between 10 and 1 each day would realistically stop a pupil from attending elsewhere and so could be seen as full-time even though it is below 18 hours across the week.

3)        Clarify your USP.

The very best AP’s are clear about who they are aimed at, who they work well with, and they stay focussed on these pupils. There are a wide variety of pupils who struggle with mainstream across all key stages. There are those at the end of KS4 who need support with exams and those in KS3 that struggled to cope with the transition from primary. There are those who are anxious school refusers and those who need close supervision due to the risk they pose to others.

Who do you have a passion for working with, which struggling young people do you want to help?

It really helps to define who you help, how you help them and how.

We help………to……….by………… is a useful template for this. For example, “we help KS4 school refusers to successfully transition to their next place of learning by providing a nurturing trauma informed setting.”

It helps you in the design of your AP, it’s curriculum and processes and also helps you when you’re selling yourself to commissioners who can pick you as an AP as a best option for a pupil they have with those particular needs.

4)        Pull together your paperwork.

Different schools and local authorities will ask for different things in place in order to check that their pupils are safe with you. The bare minimum is a safeguarding policy, comprehensive insurance and proof that your staff are recruited under safer recruitment guidelines. In reality most will ask for a much more comprehensive list, and it pays to aim to model yourself on best practice in this area. It is much more impressive for a commissioner thinking about whether to use you to receive a full set of policies and paperwork than the very basics. You may wish for additional policies than these, but this list is a helpful starting point.

·      A curriculum plan (an unregistered provision has more leeway with curriculum, but a plan means that schools can make sure what they do with pupils complements your offering. It also demonstrates your academic rigour)

·      Behaviour policy (including your approach to sanctions, suspensions and exclusion)

·      Anti-bullying policy

·      Complaints procedure

·      Admissions Policy

·      Data protection policy

·      E-safety policy

·      Fire safety policy.

·      First Aid policy

·      Health and Safety policy

·      Managing allegations policy

·      Safeguarding policy (including safer recruitment)

 In terms of contracting for work with commissioners you’ll need a Service Level Agreement. Make sure it is clear with what you need from them as well as what you’ll deliver. You can’t do your job without full information around the young people, good prompt communication and support to facilitate a good reintegration at the end of a placement.

You’re also expected to have insurance in place (public liability insurance (£5,000,000), employers liability insurance (£10,000,000) and professional negligence insurance (£2,000,000)). This can often be a challenge to find so be prepared to spend some time working on this.

All educational establishments also have a single central record a register of the qualifications, recruitment and vetting checks for all staff and volunteers. Commissioners will either ask to see this or ask for a letter of assurance that these checks have taken place.

There are some additional documents asked for by local authorities sometimes, particularly during tendering processes. This can include a range of more detailed documents such as financial records or critical incident plans.

In addition to the paperwork, you need to make sure your staff have the appropriate skills and training. You need a designated safeguarding lead and deputy, all staff trained in safeguarding, a first aider and a responsible person for health and safety and fire safety as a minimum.

5)        Check your premises.

Your premises needs to be safe for young people and you are responsible for this whether it is a shared premises or just for your use. The standards that are expected for an independent school are helpful as guidance here. In terms of standards are the premises, these are the independent schools requirements:

·      A detailed fire risk assessment is carried out by a competent person.

·      Fire evacuation plan is in place.

·      All activities have risk assessments which identify and mitigate risks to staff and pupils.

·      Premises should include a toilet and washing facilities for the sole use of pupils (water must not carry a scalding threat)

·      Premises should include changing and showering facilities where pupils are taught PE.

·      Lighting should be appropriate including external lighting to make sure entry and exit to the buildings are safe.

·      Premises should include a medical area for treatment and short-term care of pupils.

·      Premises should have access to suitable drinking water.

·      Health and safety checks should be thorough and carried out regularly.

·      Access to the site is managed and restricted or risks mitigated.

6)        Get Local authority approval.

There is no consistent approach between local authorities. Some have no approval processes; others have stringent checks of every provision. You need to approach all the local authorities from which you take students to work through their approval processes. It is sometimes hard to find the details and the correct contact in the LA to work with. A starting point is to look at the local offer on the LA website or to approach another local AP who should be able to pass on some links.

The approval processes should be fairly straightforward if you follow the other points on this guide, but the approval process isn’t always available all year round. It’s helpful to work on this as early as possible in the process.

7)        Contact commissioners.

Once you know the kind of young people you want to work with and have your paperwork in place it’s time to approach commissioners to try and sell your places. This gets easier when your reputation builds so the early pupils will be the most important. It would be most helpful to have some personal conversations with the decision makers in schools. Schools can make decisions and buy places very quickly whereas local authority places often only come after a longer tendering process so go with schools first. You want to speak to the pastoral leads who often head up the alternative provision purchasing and deal with the pupils who are struggling in mainstream. Cold calling doesn’t work very well in schools as staff are normally too busy to take calls during the day. Sending emails and arranging to meet people in person is normally most effective. If you have a premises ready, then inviting staff to visit to see your set up can work well too.

8)        Put good frameworks in place.

A good AP is more than high quality health and safety and safeguarding structures. Your frameworks around the day-to-day running of your provision are key to success for the pupils and their outcomes. These are the things that can bring life-changing success.

You need to think about the way you will do the following:

·      Pupil supervision during the day

·      Staff are suitably qualified (some schools will prefer qualified teachers as part of the team)

·      When pupils arrive, you have a clear understanding of their learning needs, academic levels, risks and any safeguarding concerns.

·      Support pupils in reading, literacy and numeracy.

·      Prepare your pupils for transitions and/or qualifications at the end of the placement.

·      How you will track and communicate attendance (on a daily basis)

·      How you will communicate positive and negative behaviour with stakeholders

·      How you will address personal, local and national safeguarding needs with pupils

·      How will you evaluate and report pupil progress?

·      How will you co-ordinate with commissioners in communication to families?

·      How will you regularly review placements?

·      How will you train staff to deal with the needs of pupils?

·      Do you understand trauma and its effects on young people?

·      Do you have access to expertise around SEN?

9)        Start slowly.

Transitions are challenging times for everyone in an AP. Don’t expect to introduce lots of new pupils all at the same time. Start slowly, establish good norms for behaviour, care and learning and introduce new young people at your pace.

10)  Grow your reputation.

The very best selling point for schools is to work successfully with their young people. Be the best you can in terms of communication with commissioners and in engaging the young people you work with. If you’ve worked well with young people from a school before and they have attended well and transitioned successfully back into mainstream or into their next place of education, then you’ll be the first AP schools will try when they are placing students.

 We’re currently offering our more detailed AP opening guide in a package with over 35 planning documents, checklists and policy templates. This is a paid service but one we’d recommend for those who are serious about moving their AP ambitions through to reality. Have a look at what we can do to make your plans go more smoothly here.

If you’re starting a new AP and want support, we regularly support settings in feasibility studies, in setting up policies and processes and in meeting standards for local authority approval. Our support can cover full Health and Safety and Safeguarding audits and all the AP’s we supported through LA tendering processes last year achieved approval. Do contact us via the website if you need some support.

We also support AP’s through Ofsted registration and inspections so get in touch if you want some help as a registered provision.