Under consideration PE2223: Allow parents of children with additional support needs to use their local authority education funding to access alternative education, including private schools, forest schools and other alternative provision
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to allow parents of children with ASN to allocate their child’s local authority education allowance to offset the cost of alternative education through private schools, forest schools and alternative provision.
This model is already in use in many Scandinavian countries.
This change would give parents more choice and the option to top up the rest if required.
Background information
Our family member, we suspect, is autistic. In August he is due to start our excellent local school. They will make some accommodations to support him but likely he will be very unhappy there and won’t learn much.
We can flexi school or home school or send him to school and risk his mental health and future attainment.
Many children with additional support needs such as his need a smaller, calmer, more structured environment or an alternative approach, which is not possible in an overcrowded classroom.
The local authority has a responsibility to educate these children not to cause them distress and physical harm.
The money could go towards providing a better setting for the child and parents could top up the cost.
Scandinavian countries have a variety of schools to choose from as standard-language immersion, Montessori, Steiner, Arts etc and heavily subsidise private schooling to make it accessible for all.
126 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
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