The Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic pupils (CReSTeD) is a charity set up to help parents choose schools for children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), of which the main difficulty is dyslexia.
There is a general recognition that dyslexia rarely exists in isolation and latest research demonstrates a high level of co-occurrence with other difficulties including Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, ADD, as well as Pragmatic and Semantic Language Difficulties. CReSTeD acts as a source of information which can help parents making a placement decision about a child with SpLD. CReSTeD is a valuable resource for parents, educational advisers and schools. The charity was established in 1989 and publishes and maintains a list of schools and centres accredited for their SpLD provision (the Register) annually. The schools and centres listed in the Register cover all levels of provision for SpLD pupils and include both state and independent provision. The majority of schools on the Register are mainstream, offering a wide range of teaching styles, environment and facilities.
The register is provided free for parents, and the level of provision is divided into six broad categories, five for schools: Dyslexia Specialist Provision (Category DSP), Specialist Provision Schools (Category SPS), Learning Support Centre (Category LSC), Withdrawal System (Category WS) and Maintained Sector (Category MS) and one for centres: Teaching Centres (Category TC). Children have different requirements and personalities; the categories are a way of helping match each child to the type of provision at the school or centre. A report from an Educational Psychologist or a specialist teacher who holds an Assessment Practising Certificate should offer guidance as to the level of provision relevant to the child. A child at the severe end of the dyslexia spectrum may require a Dyslexia Specialist Provision school, whereas a child with, for example, only some slowness in spelling skills may be suitably provided for in a school from Category Withdrawal System. The categories offer this guidance. Note that the Maintained Sector is only open to local authority schools and not to Independent schools.
The criteria
Every school and centre on the CReSTeD list has been independently verified for SpLD provision by CReSTeD consultants, which is not the case in other lists. The first stage of any registration is for the school to complete the CReSTeD registration form and to provide supporting documentation, such as policies for dyslexia. This form covers staff development, admission policy, organisation of the school week, specific arrangements for SpLD pupils, examination results for the whole school and for SpLD pupils in particular, resources and a list of parents’ names so that the Consultant may check parents’ feelings about the school or centre.
These criteria include the provision of relevant and high quality information technology resources, Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) approved training qualifications for teachers, awareness of the needs of dyslexic pupils by the non-specialist staff, and arrangements to obtain and provide special provision for examinations. Consultants will look to see if this information is accurate and that the school or centre meets the criteria set by CReSTeD Council for the particular category, visit the schools.
Schools and centres are visited on a three yearly cycle, with possible earlier visits if there are substantial changes, which should always be swiftly communicated to CReSTeD. If the Head of a CReSTeD school changes, we require the school to inform us and ask the new Head to confirm that the school intends to continue with the SpLD provision in accordance with the criteria set by CReSTeD (at the agreed category level). This enables the charity to retain the school’s details in the Register without the need for an extra visit.
