Out of county and Independent special schools
Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) has been working on developing its specialist education provision for children and young people with SEND (special educational needs and/or disabilities) for the last two years.
In the spring of 2019, a project led by HPCI (Herts Parent Carer Involvement) invited parents whose children were in Out of Area schools to anonymously discuss their experiences. 
The intention being that HCC could learn from them so that in the future more children could be educated closer to their homes. By Out of Area schools we mean either independent special schools or special schools, units or bases run by other local authorities. Eight parents whose children had gone to an Out of Area school in the previous two years volunteered to take part in a telephone interview with a parent representative from HPCI.
What was learnt by listening to parents whose children are in specialist ‘Out of Area’ schools
Families wanted the right education provision closer to home and they wanted to contribute to the project so that other families could benefit from future changes.
All were clear that their child being in the right school for their special needs has a positive impact on the life of the whole family.
What did the parents say led to their child going to an Out of Area school?
All parents talked about issues with their child being able to get the right therapies not just the usual speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy but also access to other therapies that make a difference and how these were on offer routinely at Out of Area schools.
What has happened as a result?
The professionals and HPCI parent reps working in the specialist education provision workstream have looked at and discussed the findings and how they can be built into what they are doing.
Senior leaders in Children’s Services have also seen them and are going to be making changes to the HCC SEND strategy and the SEND Transformation project as a result.
A big thank you to those parents who came forward to take part and generously gave their time and experiences.