Online SEND school offers lifeline in Cornwall
NOS is the first Department for Education-accredited online SEND school
Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) who are unable to attend a traditional school setting now have access to a high-quality alternative in Cornwall. One of the teachers at the National Online School (NOS) – who teaches from his home near Newquay – has spoken about the transformative effect it has had not just on pupils but their parents too.
Art teacher Matt Cooley, who lives at Porth, told us that parents have told staff they thought their children would never go to school again. “We had feedback from a dad who said ‘I feel like I’ve got my son back’.”
NOS – the first Department for Education-accredited online SEND school – is offering tailored places in Cornwall to meet the needs of local children. The online school recently celebrated achieving GCSE results which outperformed the national average pass rate.
Recent figures from the Department for Education suggest school absence is at a record high in England, with more than 170,000 children being “severely absent” and missing for at least half their lessons last year. With a growing number of children not in education, NOS says it is a vital lifeline for parents and young people across the country, particularly for those children with an EHCP (an education, health and care plan) who often find their needs are unable to be met by mainstream schooling.
Offering everything a traditional onsite school does, all teachers are subject specialists as well as SEN-trained, able to competently meet the needs of each and every pupil. Coupled with this, NOS has a strong focus on therapeutic education, which helps pupils adapt to a school environment, find their confidence and flourish.
It currently has over 230 pupils and works with 51 local authorities across the country to teach children who may not be attending schools in those areas, including in Cornwall.
Headteacher Kirsten Roy said: “The fact is that traditional school settings do not suit every child. Our pupils have complex needs and may have been through significant trauma, have acute anxiety and have completely disengaged from education. We help them rebuild their confidence, understand their emotions, work with their parents and wrap a team of support around them so they can start to enjoy learning in a safe online space.
“We offer everything you would expect at an onsite school but our approach is very different. We have specialist and therapists to create bespoke tailored support for each individual child so they can grow, heal and plan for their future, something which often has seemed out of reach.”
Mr Cooley has worked at the school – from his home in Porth – for over four years and loves it. “There are such a diverse range of challenges with medical conditions and diagnoses that children face which the current system either doesn’t understand or doesn’t respond to, which makes the work that schools like ours do so important.
“Those kids who have officially been recognised as being affected by ’emotional-based school avoidance’ have described it as being akin to the fear of walking into a burning building. Everything is so overwhelming, painful and anxiety-inducing that it’s all they can do not to shut down. Trying to learn under those circumstances is impossible.
“What makes a real difference with our school is the therapeutic support we provide, not just for the kids themselves but for their families too, which is something that young people don’t get anywhere else. That enables young people to engage with education again.”
He said the National Online School runs a full programme of events that you’d expect from any school, so from form time to assemblies, through to a school parliament, afternoon clubs, reading sessions, sports clubs, one to one groups, occupational therapy and art and drama. “There’s everything you would expect to find in a ‘real’ school but it’s delivered in this incredibly special educational needs focused manner,” added Mr Cooley.
“We support pupils to make progress and flourish at a time when they have lost all faith in education. Parents have told us they thought their children would never go to school again. We had feedback from a dad who said ‘I feel like I’ve got my son back’.”
Placements at the National Online School are primarily funded by local authorities through an EHCP. Parents can contact their SEND case worker or EHCP coordinator and ask them to send a consultation to NOS. Privately funded placements can also be considered.