Special School Admission Information

Most children and young people with SEN are educated in mainstream schools. Each mainstream school in Islington is supported by the Outreach teams linked to the local special schools. Their role is to build the skills, knowledge and capacity of mainstream schools to make sure that children with SEND can have their needs met.

Local Special Schools

The Government requirement is to include children and young people with SEN in mainstream schools wherever possible but we also understand that for a small number of children this may not be appropriate, at least not for the whole of their school career.
To meet the broad range of children's needs and parental preferences there is a range of specialist school provision in Islington. Admission to any special school is only via the Local Authority SEN Team.

For School Information Reports please see the individual entries listed highlighted:

  • The Bridge School - A high proportion of students at the school have autistic spectrum disorders, communication difficulties, challenging behaviour and complex needs. It also offers an Outreach team which advises our mainstream schools on The Bridge School has both a primary site and a secondary site.                                                                           
  • Richard Cloudesley School - for children aged 2 to 19 years with severe/complex physical disabilities. The school also provides an Outreach service to support the inclusion of children and young people with visual impairments, hearing impairments and multi-sensory impairment aged 0-19 years, in all of Islington's maintained schools and early years settings.  It has both a primary site and a secondary site.
  • Samuel Rhodes School - for children with difficulties in learning and cognition. It has an outreach team which advises mainstream schools on how to supports pupils with learning difficulties. It has both a primary site and a secondary site.
  • Laycock Hearing Impairment Unit - a unit attached to a mainstream primary school which caters for primary aged children with hearing impairment.
  • The Bridge Integrated Learning Space - A Free School for pupils aged 7 to 19 with severe learning difficulties and/or autism and accompanying challenging behaviour. The ILS provides a London based resource for these children and young people. A key aspect is to work with the whole family, integrating the work of a range of agencies.
  • The Courtyard School - A Free School which caters for pupils who aged 14-18 with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and/or speech, language and communication needs.
  • The Family School - a therapeutic Alternative Provision (AP) school specialising in providing short term placements for students with complex needs aged 5-14. The school aims to ease behavioural and mental health-related blocks to learning and so that pupils continue with full-time education and return successfully to their mainstream school. It requires a parent or significant adult family member to participate in the classroom with their child.
Independent and non-maintained Specialist Schools

View detailed listings for the main Independent and Non-Maintained Education Providers used by Islington.

Section 41 Special Schools and Education Institutions

View the government’s website listing the Section 41 approved independent educational institutions, independent special schools and post-16 institutions.

Please note we will always look to meet additional needs through Islington schools first before considering a place outside the borough.

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