Children and their teacher in a classroom
Information on education for younger children who are blind and partially sighted
Most children with vision impairment are educated in mainstream schools. Our research shows that 64 per cent of children with vision impairment between 5-16 years are educated in mainstream schools or academies, or mainstream schools which are additionally resourced for blind and partially sighted pupils.
Some children, however, require a specialist placement for some or all of their education. If your child has a severe vision impairment or additional needs or disabilities, your child may get the best support in this setting.
For support in finding a school, we strongly advise that you contact your local authority's visual impairment teaching service for information and advice about your local provision. You will be allocated a teacher trained to support children with vision impairment who can offer invaluable guidance from infancy through to your child going on to further education and employment.
This specialist teacher is known as a Qualified Teacher of children with Vision Impairment (QTVI). You should automatically be referred to this service by the eye clinic when your child is diagnosed with a vision impairment.
This is an important contact for educational advice and guidance about your child. You can access this support for your child from birth.
There is more information about support from specialist teachers and assessment and provision for your child’s needs in ‘Getting the right support – SEN and inclusion’.
To get in touch with a specialist teacher, contact our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email [email protected] and we can give you the contact details of the Vision Impairment teaching service (sometimes known as the Sensory Service) in your area.
This factsheet contains more detail about the role of a QTVI:
Mainstream schools are controlled by a governing body, funded by the local authority (LA) or in the case of academies, for example, are funded directly by central government through the Department for Education (DfE). They have access to the full range of LA support services.
In England, where the LA issues an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) it is required by law to name a mainstream school on it. However, if doing so would prevent other children from being educated efficiently, or you request a special school, a special school would be named instead.
If you choose a school outside your local area, you may want to consider your child's social needs. For example, you may feel your child would be happier attending the same school as their brothers or sisters, or friends in the local community.
Some schools have 'resource bases' for pupils with vision impairment. In these schools, there may be a base for the local visual impairment service, an area where teaching and learning resources are adapted and modified, and/or a space where pupils with vision impairment are taught specific lessons or skills.
A list of schools with a VI-resource base is available at VICTA.
Special schools cater for pupils who have special educational needs. These needs may relate to physical, learning, hearing or visual difficulties; to social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties; or to autistic spectrum disorders.
Some special schools are very specific about the needs for which they cater. Others are more generic and have pupils with a range of diverse needs.
In England, your child must have an EHCP to attend a special school but could be assessed at one before their plan is finalised.
If your child has complex or additional needs, visit learning with complex needs.
A list of specialist schools for children with VI is available at VICTA.
Many non-maintained or independent special schools have residential provision. Pupils can still attend daily if they live close enough to make daily travelling possible.
Most special schools that are maintained by local authorities only have day provision. However, some, especially those serving a large catchment area, may have some residential accommodation.
Approximately two per cent of pupils with vision impairment up to the age of 16 attend special schools specifically for blind and partially sighted pupils. A larger group, 32 per cent, attend other types of special schools – for example, ones that are especially equipped to support children with learning or physical difficulties.
Finding the right special school may be daunting, so gather information on all the possible schools and make sure you visit them. Make sure you talk to your local authority for support.
If your child has complex or additional needs, visit learning with complex needs.
Visiting a school to try to gain a picture of whether you feel it could meet the needs of your son or daughter is very important, but it can be a daunting task.
This is a list of things that you might want to look at and ask questions about. It's not an exhaustive list, and exactly what you need to find out will depend on the specific needs of your child.
Most questions are phrased so that a 'yes' answer is desirable.
All statistics are taken from the national Freedom of Information annual survey of local education authority visual impairment advisory services (including numbers of blind and partially sighted children and their educational placements) undertaken by RNIB. Full reports are available in our Education research section.
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