Understanding the reality of specialist SEND provision

By Joseph Tomkins, Communications & Content Manager, Independent Schools Association
With contributions from Nicola Smith and Mark Chapman, Changing Lives Independent School

Your shoes will get dirty. This isn't a metaphor; the entrance to Changing Lives Independent School is very muddy. It's one of the first things they tell you on a tour, along with "don't wear anything white"! They aren’t trying to put you off. They’re being honest about what their school is like, because for the students who come here, honesty about what to expect, about what's possible, about what might be difficult is everything.

When I arrived for my visit, Head Teacher Nicola was preparing to interview for another intervention teacher. The school already has one, along with a therapist who comes in weekly, a careers advisor, and specialist staff with forest school qualifications and equine facilitated learning diplomas.

"I know what it looks like," Nicola said with a slight smile. "A lot of staff for sixty students. But when you're working with young people who've experienced significant trauma, who haven't been in consistent education for years, who have complex overlapping needs, you need specialists. You need capacity. You need people who aren't stretched so thin they're just firefighting." She's not wrong. And as the day went on, I'd see exactly why every single one of those roles matters.

When Nicola arrived in April 2023, there were 4 students. Staff were coming in as tutors, working on a key worker model that wasn't sustainable. She brought in a specialist core teacher.  She sent staff out for qualifications in equine facilitated learning and full forest school diplomas. "These courses are intensive because they are actually like a diploma-level qualification," she explained. "I wanted to make sure that they had the right training."

Changing Lives currently has around 50 students across 8 different local authorities. That means 8 different EHCP formats, 8 different referral processes, 8 different sets of procedures for looked-after children. Just managing the administrative complexity requires significant leadership capacity.

Under Nicola's leadership, her deputies share the considerable workload between them. Jane takes responsibility for behaviour, attendance, and admissions, while Mark oversees safeguarding and trips. Jenny manages the sixth form alongside careers and invited speakers. The team has recently taken on oversight of the alternative provision that came under the school's umbrella, adding to their already weighty responsibilities. Yet despite the pressures, this SLT works exceptionally well together, supporting and caring for each other through the challenges.

This year, Changing Lives has added middle leaders, roles that didn't exist before. One leads on EBSNA (emotionally based school non-attendance), delivering programmes to help students who are struggling to attend. Others focus on literacy, equine provision, teaching and learning. The pastoral manager role is entirely non-teaching, purely focused on student wellbeing.

The need

The young people who come to Changing Lives have often been out of consistent education for years. In their previous schools, some were told they were safeguarding concerns because their attendance had dropped below 50%. Imagine being 14 years old and carrying that label. Imagine the weight of it.

"That's heavy for a child to be burdened with," Mark Chapman, Deputy Head, said quietly. "And now that student is in every day. Every single day."

The students at Changing Lives have complex, overlapping needs such as ADHD combined with autism and dyslexia, often diagnosed late or missed entirely because they were quiet, compliant students who simply stopped coming to school. Some have specific traumas. They are students with extreme anxiety, depression, and often a history of self-harm. Students who loved learning until they didn't, until school became the thing that they feared most.

What flexibility looks like

At Changing Lives, groups typically consist of no more than 4 students. Every member of staff, including the senior leadership team, mentors at least 2 students weekly, even if it's just a 5-minute check-in. SLT are on the gates every morning, teaching is on their timetables, and Nicola's made it clear: "We don't just sit in our offices."

But small numbers alone don't explain the 80% attendance improvement within 6 weeks that most students experience. It's what you can do with those small numbers. In their lessons, staff are actively monitoring throughout. Walking around while students work, checking understanding in real time, adapting on the spot. "You might have planned something, and everyone in that group's already got that knowledge," Nicola explained. "But then you need to do something else instead because they've got a gap in a specific area."

When a student is struggling, the options aren't ‘sit in the corridor’ or ‘go to isolation.’ Staff might say, "Do you want to just go and get a dog, and we'll walk up the drive and back?" Or "Let's go see your favourite horse." If a student needs to walk around the site with a teacher for 5 minutes before settling, that’s fine. Another may need be in a separate room with one-to-one support before slowly, over the year, transitioning into group lessons. This is all welcome at Changing Lives.

The animals

Yes, there are horses. The school, which started as a riding centre run by the school’s founding family for generations, first became an alternative provision, then opened as a full-time independent school in January 2022. The animals stayed, and they've become central to how learning happens here.

“I’ll get on a horse if you get on a horse, Miss.”

The environment won’t suit every student, and the school is transparent about that. One prospective family visited on a beautiful day but ultimately decided against enrolment. The child had severe sensory sensitivities, and the sound of rain on stable roofs would have been overwhelming. “There’s no adaptation I can do there," Nicola said. "I can't avoid that." Better to be honest than risk limiting the success of a child.

Not every student loves animals. Some are frightened of horses, and that’s fine. Everything happens at the student’s pace. One student arrived, insisting he would never go near them. Over time, that resistance turned into a challenge: “I’ll get on a horse if you get on a horse, Miss.” Nicola agreed. So did the rest of the senior leadership team, in front of the whole school. Moments later, the student climbed on and rode alongside them.

Building humans, not just qualifications

Academic pathways include GCSEs, BTECs, the King’s Award, and specialist animal and equine care qualifications. This year, students are entering the ISA Arts competition for the first time, alongside taking part in 3 careers fairs each year that bring in everyone from tattooists to local MPs.

But the curriculum also includes learning to say "good morning" to strangers on dog walks. Travel training by planning a route using buses and trams from a site that isn't near any public transport. Budgeting trips to supermarkets where they must plan and cook a meal. Students take on work experience at retirement homes, dog groomers, and landscaping companies. Real jobs in real settings.

“If it wasn’t for Changing Lives, he wouldn’t be where he is now.”

One former student now runs her own dog walking business. Another stayed on at the dog groomers after completing her work experience and now works there every Saturday. And the student who once barely spoke to anyone is now at a mainstream college studying construction, with a part-time landscaping job alongside it. As his mum said, “If it wasn’t for Changing Lives, he wouldn’t be where he is now.”

The wraparound nobody sees

Families know they can reach out when they need support. Sometimes that means a call on a Saturday or during the holidays. When a family is in crisis, staff respond because continuity and trust matter.

Families are invited to regular drop-in sessions where they don’t just hear about learning, they experience it. They take part in science experiments, join equine facilitated learning sessions, and see first-hand what their child’s day looks like.

At Changing Lives, a way that positive behaviour is recognised is with reward cards. Recently, during a Macmillan coffee morning, sixth formers served guests while students’ families mingled with staff in a relaxed, community atmosphere. Students earned cards for their participation, helpfulness, and willingness to engage. One mother later shared that her son had placed the cards next to his bed so he could read them each night before going to sleep.

The part that matters

So, what is the outcome for students who attend Changing Lives? Students who smile as they get into the car each morning. Students who travel independently on trams for the first time. Students who go from not speaking to running a small shop. Students whose parents no longer receive urgent calls about safeguarding concerns, but postcards celebrating kindness instead.

This provision isn’t a luxury. It’s what happens when education is properly resourced for students with complex needs, challenging histories, and futures that depend on someone finally getting it right. It costs what it costs because the alternative, losing these young people entirely, costs so much more.

Your shoes will get muddy, and students will need raincoats. But they’ll also get to be 14 without carrying a label that weighs them down. They’ll get to learn what belonging feels like. And if that takes horses, intervention teachers, senior leaders on the gates every morning, and staff answering phones on a Saturday, then that’s exactly what it takes.

That’s not excess. That’s education.

Changing Lives is a specialist SEN school in Manchester, led by ISA Member, Nicola Smith, dedicated to transforming young people's lives through personalised education with animal-assisted therapy, small groups, and outdoor learning. Supporting pupils with SEMH, autism, ADHD, and additional needs. www.changinglivessen.co.uk