Frequently Asked Questions

Schools are required to tailor their universal offer so that it fits the needs of all. However, pupils who have a range of social, emotional, and/or mental health needs, and have co-existing diagnoses such as Autism, ADHD, ODD, PDA, anxiety or sensory processing difficulties, can often have a more negative experience of education within school settings than their peers. Alternative Provision provision (AP) refers to something in which a learner participates: 

• as part of their regular timetable 
• (generally) away from the site of the school and 
• not led by school staff or by parents.

Provision not registered with the Department for Education (DfE)

If a provider does not meet any of the criteria for registration with the DfE (e.g by only offering part- time education), there is no need for the provider to register. Often the fact that provision at such settings is very different to schools is central to what makes them successful.  

At Sendeducate CIC we consider it good practice to adhere to the same statutory quality standards registered providers have to adhere to, which is reflected in our policies and our commitment to provide a very high standard of bespoke 1:1 AP sessions for children and young people with SEND.

Most children and young people who will be referred to us either by schools or commissioning local authorities ( LA's) will have SEND and will usually have an Education Health and Care Plan ( EHCP) in place. As such their AP programme will be funded either by their school or the LA. However, we also accept direct enquiries for our individual sessions/programmes from parents/carers and young people themselves, for those who wish to self-fund for example by utilising DLA/PIP payments, EHIP payments ( shortbreaks) or those who wish to pay privately. 

The DfE requires any provider to be registered if it is intending to provide, or does provide, all, or substantially all, of a child’s education.
Relevant factors in determining whether education is full-time include:

• the number of hours per week that are provided - including breaks and independent study time. The DfE generally will consider any provider that is operating during the day, for more than 18 hours per week, to be providing full-time education. This is because the education being provided is taking up the substantial part of the week in which it can be reasonably expected a child can be educated, and therefore indicates that the education provided is the main source of education for that child.
• the number of weeks in the academic term/year the education is provided;
• the time of day it is provided;

whether the education provision in practice, including travel times, precludes the possibility that full-time education could be provided elsewhere.

Inspectors from Ofsted may inspect any setting if they have reasonable cause to believe that an unregistered independent school is operating there. It is an offence to operate an unregistered independent school and applications for registration must be submitted and approved before a school begins to operate and admit learners. Independent schools must satisfy the independent school standards (ISS) as a condition of registration.

Once registered, independent schools are inspected on a regular cycle either by Ofsted or by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). ISI is approved by the Secretary of State to inspect schools belonging to associations affiliated to the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

Provision not registered with DfE

If a provider does not meet any of the criteria for registration with the DfE eg by only offering part- time education, there is no need for the provider to register. Often the fact that provision at such settings is very different to schools is central to what makes them successful. It is therefore not necessary, that all alternative providers are registered as schools. Instead, LA's often publish and maintain a directory of providers that they  ‘approve’ as part of their commitment to supporting schools and other commissioners in monitoring consistency and quality in off-site part-time alternative provision for learners. 

Most LA's quality assurance process for these providers covers key elements of the same requirements providers registered with the DfE have to meet. Sendeducate CIC was founded in August 2023 and is an approved unregistered provider of alternative provison. We have a Flexible Purchasing System (“FPS”) agreement in place as an approved provider of educational placements & other support services for special educational needs and disabilities ( “SEND”) for Cheshire East Council 

( lead authority) and other Placing Authorities in the North West. As such we are required to have the same high standards as DfE or Ofsted registered providers.

Sendeducate CIC was founded in August 2023, and is an approved unregistered provider of educational placements & other support services for special educational needs and disabilities ( “SEND”) for Cheshire East Council ( lead authority) and other Placing Authorities in the North West. As such we are required to have and are committed to adhere to the same statutory quality standards required of registered providers. We have robust policies ( including safeguarding, health and safety and safer recruitment policies)  in place to reflect this, and these  are  available on request. 

Privately-funded commissioned sessions/programmes will include a trial session. For commissioning bodies and schools, we will ensure that each referral is carefully considered, so that the child or young person can be matched with the right learning opportunity in an area of interest and an  experienced tutor that can coach the student. This should maximise the chances of a successful placement. 

Our policies include Health and Safety Policy, Safeguarding and Vulnerable Children Policy, Complaints Procedure, Data Protection & information management and more, and our policy booklet is  available on request for parents/carers and young people when they are booked on one of our programmes, as well as for commissioning bodies and schools.