Progress 8 applies to special schools
This is because progress 8 applies to all maintained schools and academies.
If you’re an independent special school, however, you won’t publish progress 8 scores or pupil destinations (see page 18 of the DfE's guide to secondary accountability measures).
Special schools’ progress 8 scores compare them with mainstream schools
Mainstream maintained schools and academies’ progress 8 scores are calculated as the average of that school’s pupils’ progress 8 scores (see page 23 of the secondary accountability measures guide). The schools’ results are compared against the national average score for all mainstream pupils, which is set at 0.