Finding a nursery, school or college/information about schools

Finding a school

As a first step, you should look on your local authority’s (LA) local offer, and that of any neighbouring LAs. 

You can search by LA on the Department for Education directory of schools - https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/

You can also search by LA on the list of Section 41 special schools and colleges maintained by the Department for Education - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-special-schools-and-colleges 

John Catt’s ‘Which school for special needs’ is a directory of independent special schools - https://www.specialneedsguide.co.uk/ 

Finding information about a school 

For help checking what type a school or other setting is, you can:

• search for it on https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/
• if it is classed as ‘Other independent special school’ it may be a Section 41 school. You can scroll further down the page to ‘Section 41 approved’ and it will tell you whether the school is Section 41 approved or not. Independent schools which are not Section 41 approved are wholly independent schools. You can also check whether the school appears on the Section 41 list -https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-special-schools-and-colleges