Changes to National Minimum Standards for residential special schools

Find out what the government’s new standards are that residential special schools must follow from September 5th, 2022.

The new national minimum standards for boarding schools and residential special schools (NMSB), set by the government, replace the old standards published in 2015. In the government’s words, these new, more rigorous standards, which came into effect on Monday 5th September, ‘raise the bar in terms of the minimum standard of quality offered by schools, to achieve better outcomes for pupils.’

Why the update?

An update to the existing minimum standards for boarding and residential special schools is long-awaited. As expectations have increased around standards of education, the care and nurture of pupils and staff training, there is a need for the regulations in residential settings to reflect this. 

Many standards within the previous regulations only required  ‘adequate’ provision. In the new regulations, this requirement has been increased to ‘good’. 

The structure of the new standards has also been improved to be more user-friendly.

So what else has changed?

The new standards go into more detail and contain more requirements than the previous document (27 as opposed to 22). Requirements are also more rigorous (the 2022 revised document is over twice as long as the document published in 2015).

The new regulations also include extra standards related to meeting the social and emotional requirements of pupils, alongside health and safety. There is also more emphasis on life beyond the setting. For example, in terms of transition and preparing young people for adulthood, the revised standard refers to the SEND code of practice outcomes and specifies that there must be a focus on preparing for adulthood from year 9 onwards. 

In summary, the new document of standards:

• replaces the requirement to meet certain standards on an 'adequate' or 'suitable' basis with that of 'good'
• places more emphasis on the individual needs of children and the quality of staff training
• introduces new standards including providing individual support to children and placing more emphasis on supporting children with forming and sustaining friendships and developing their emotional and social skills

What exactly do the new standards cover?

Standards that are new or significantly developed from the 2015 standards include:

Standard 1 – outlining the setting’s statement of principles and practice. This was previously only composed of one paragraph but is now a longer section of four different sub-points which includes the necessity to prepare a child-friendly version of the setting’s statement and to review and update this statement annually.

Standard 6 – covering admission and induction, this now incorporates the expectation that schools admit children where their setting is named on the EHC plan. The school should also ensure it can meet a child’s specific needs where an EHC needs assessment is still being undertaken.

Standard 13 – covering arrangements that the setting should put in place around safeguarding pupils, now includes protection from potentially harmful online content. Schools are also required to address sexual relationships between children and child-on-child abuse in their child protection policy.

Standard 17 – outlining individual support now contains more detail about the requirement for an ‘independent person… outside the staff and those responsible for the leadership and governance of the school, who children may contact directly about personal problems or concerns at the school.’ This ‘independent person’ must visit the school regularly and get to know children through interaction and communication. They should also be able to recognise the signs of good or poor care and identify safeguarding concerns. This standard also requires that children are provided with appropriate advocacy support where necessary and made aware of what advocacy services are available to them. 

Standard 21 – is a brand new standard in the revised requirements that deals with the prevention of bullying. The three-part standard requires that an anti-bullying strategy is drawn up and adhered to by the setting. This should cover cyberbullying, prejudice-based bullying and discriminatory bullying.  

Standard 27 – outlines in more depth the role of guardians, including their responsibility for the welfare and physical and emotional wellbeing of the child they are appointed to. 

What next?

1. If you have a child in a residential setting or are considering applying for a place, read the new National Minimum Standards for residential special schools (which come into force on 5th September, 2022).
2. You can access the government’s current SEND Code of Practice here (there has recently been a government consultation on updating its content).

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