Councils’ support of AP schools is proof they play a crucial role

Local authority leaders defied DfE pressure to swap AP free school projects for spending on mainstream provision because they know some children need a specialist setting, says Meg Powell-Chandler.

“This school has changed his life,” says Elliot’s mum as she tearfully describes how St Wilfrid’s Academy in Doncaster rescued her son from bullying, misunderstanding and misadventure at his previous mainstream school.

St Wilfrid’s is an alternative provision (AP) free school that the Department for Education highlighted as providing best practice when it launched the 2022 wave of special and AP free schools.

Yet previously approved specialist free school projects like St Wilfrid’s were thrown into uncertainty in December when the government told local authorities that had co-bid for 59 special and AP free schools that they had two months to decide whether to proceed with the projects.

Alternatively, councils could take per-place funding to create “specialist places” themselves by expanding existing special schools or creating inclusion units in mainstream settings.

Private provision costs

Demand for specialist provision has been rising for years. Around two thirds of special schools are over capacity.

Our recent report into AP free schools highlighted that only 37 per cent of AP placements are in state-funded alternative provision, with unregistered and independent provision increasingly filling the gap.

The consequences are clear. In the scramble to secure specialist places, public spending on private provision has dramatically increased.

Sometimes this is driven by parental preference enabled through EHCPs. Sometimes it reflects highly complex needs. But too often it is the result of a system that has failed to provide sufficient capacity in the first place.

Against this backdrop, the government’s announcement – which also cancelled 18 special free school projects – emphasised that inclusion units in mainstream schools would make education “inclusive by design”, while free schools would take years to build.

Some MPs welcomed the alternative funding as additional investment secured for their local area. The DfE’s estates strategy has since established that “in time” all secondary schools will have an inclusion base.

In a political environment driven more by signals than delivery, the message was clear: mainstream inclusion should take priority over new specialist schools.

Despite the pressure to reconsider, the majority of councils have chosen to press ahead with their special or AP free school projects.

That is because framing this as a choice between mainstream inclusion and specialist provision was always misguided.

Re-engaging with education

First, additional specialist capacity is desperately needed. Demand for specialist provision continues to outstrip supply. Without new state provision, councils will remain reliant on independent placements or sending pupils out of borough at significant cost.

And inclusion should not mean insisting every child must succeed in the same setting. For some pupils a different environment is exactly what enables them to re-engage with education.

Special schools and alternative provision exist because some children need smaller settings, specialist staff and a more tailored approach. That is not a failure of inclusion. It is what meaningful inclusion looks like.

Nor are specialist schools somehow separate from the communities they serve. High-quality special and AP schools do not isolate pupils; they create environments where children who have struggled elsewhere can thrive, rebuild confidence and access the support they need to succeed.

Improving outcomes for these children requires a focus on quality, not just capacity.

Special and AP free schools are already demonstrating what that quality can look like. In AP free schools, pupils have lower absence rates and stronger post-16 outcomes than in other state-funded AP settings. These schools are not simply providing a place for pupils who cannot be supported elsewhere – they are offering a chance to re-engage with education and build a positive future.

The support of the free school projects among councils should send a clear signal. Local leaders understand that meeting the needs of vulnerable pupils requires both stronger inclusion in mainstream schools and high-quality specialist provision.

This was never an either-or choice. It was always both.

Until the system plans properly for both, too many children will continue to fall through the gaps.