Stage 2: Open
Launch Support
How do we get ready to open, and open without losing the design?
A menu of the work that happens between a brief and a first day, all of it or one piece. I advise the head and SENCO and review what they produce. I write one thing, the behaviour and support approach, and your team writes the rest. Most of it is remote, with visits at the points that matter.
Launch Support
Inclusion base
How do we open this base as it was designed?
Fixed price, capped at six days across a term. Take the whole menu or choose the pieces you need. I advise the head and SENCO and review what they produce, and I write the behaviour and support approach from the brief. Your school writes the rest.
Scope and limits
I do not advise on where an individual pupil is placed, though I do help you decide who a provision is for and its entry and exit criteria. I give no architectural, structural, fire safety or door hardware advice: the brief says what the provision has to do, and your architect, fire safety adviser and estates team decide how to meet it.
The menu
- What the behaviour policy and base procedures must say for this cohort, and a review of your drafts
- The behaviour and support approach for the base, written by me from the brief
- Admissions, entry and exit criteria, and pre start information on each pupil
- Staffing, supervision and training plan
- How the day runs, walked through on paper and then in the room
- Communication with parents and the rest of the school
- A check against the brief before opening
- A visit in the first weeks
What you will have at the end
- A base that opens as the brief designed it
- Your own documents, reviewed and marked up
- The behaviour and support approach
- Two visits: before opening and in the first half term
Launch Support
New special school or alternative provision
How do we get this school ready to open?
A monthly retainer from recruiting the principal designate to the end of the first half term. Take the whole menu, or one piece, such as pre registration inspection readiness. Your trust still has a project lead and a DfE delivery officer. This is the educational voice alongside them.
The project development grant may cover this. Your trust and the DfE decide the funding line.
Scope and limits
Out of scope: the funding agreement, statutory consultation and transport. The pre registration piece is a readiness review of your evidence and plans. It does not imitate an inspection or give a grade. I do not advise on where an individual pupil is placed, though I do help you decide who a provision is for and its entry and exit criteria. I give no architectural, structural, fire safety or door hardware advice: the brief says what the provision has to do, and your architect, fire safety adviser and estates team decide how to meet it.
The menu
- Advice on appointing the principal designate: the person specification and a seat on the panel
- Place commissioning, and admissions through the EHCP consultation route
- The education plan and curriculum model
- The therapy and specialist services the cohort needs, which the trust commissions
- What your policies must cover for this cohort, with two rounds of review
- The behaviour and support approach, written by me
- Pre start information, staffing and training plan, and how the day runs
- Preparing for the DfE checkpoint and the readiness to open meeting
- Readiness for Ofsted's pre registration inspection
- The first weeks
What you will have at the end
- A school that opens as the brief designed it
- Your documents reviewed and marked up, and the behaviour and support approach
- A short note each month on where you are
Questions
Questions people ask.
Do you write our policies?
No. I tell you what each policy and procedure has to cover for this cohort, and review your drafts. For a base I write one thing, the behaviour and support approach, from the brief. For a new special school I write that too, and I do not write the trust's standard policies.
Is the pre registration inspection piece an inspection?
No. It is a readiness review of your evidence and plans before Ofsted's pre registration inspection, which checks before opening whether the school is likely to meet the independent school standards. It does not imitate an inspection or give a grade.
Do you replace our project lead or the DfE delivery officer?
No. Your trust still has a project lead and a DfE delivery officer. Launch support is the educational voice alongside them.
Can we buy one piece rather than the whole menu?
Yes. A single piece for a base is one to two days. For a new special school it is three to five days, for example pre registration readiness.
What is out of scope for a new special school?
The funding agreement, statutory consultation and transport. Those sit with your project team and the DfE.
Do I need the brief first?
No, but launch support is easiest when there is one. If there is not, the first piece is usually writing down who the provision is for and how it will run.
Let's talk
Twenty minutes is usually enough to know whether this would help.
If it would not, I will say so, and point you to free support instead.
Book a 20 minute call (opens booking page in a new tab)