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Information about Wiltshire based services and learning to support Primary age SEND students.
This information is aimed at children 5 to 11 years, primary school. If your child has started secondary school then you may find more relevant information at Secondary (11 to 16 years).
Are you accessing all the help available for the cost of childcare? Childcare Choices (opens new window) is a Government website that can help you see what you may be entitled to. For more information on free entitlement and the Disability Fund, visit Early years and childcare.
Primary schools, special schools and resource bases in Wiltshire
Visit our Primary Schools page for further information about Wiltshire education settings.
Ordinarily Available Provisions for All Learners (OPAL)
Our OPAL resource is a web-based resource, with supporting development network, which defines what provision education settings should ordinarily make available for children and young people.
For professionals providing additional support within the graduated response approach more information can be found on SEND Resources 5 to 11.
Targeted education support
These are services for children with additional needs over and above what is available to them through universal services. Often these services will be short-term and embedded into universal services.
The Medical Needs Education and Reintegration Service (MNERS) is a small team of specialist Teachers and Support Workers. We provide a secondary age teaching support service for children and young people of compulsory school age (pre-16 level) who are unable to attend school due to a diagnosed medical reason. Referral criteria applies to this service. Separate support arrangements can be made for children of primary school age.
The service works closely with schools, health professionals, parents/carers and other local authority teams and external agencies to promote the educational inclusion and achievement of children and young people who are experiencing a variety of health-related needs. These needs may be complex and can include mental health issues. The service aims to work within a holistic and collaborative approach to increase children and young people's confidence, sense of wellbeing and ability to effectively access the core subject curriculum. Where appropriate, transition support for learners' reintegration back into their mainstream school setting can be provided.
Referral into the service is made by schools, using the DART. For 'out of area' schools wishing to refer a learner who is ordinarily resident in the Wiltshire Local Authority area, contact the MNERS Team Manager. MNERS does not accept referrals for children and young people with an active EHCP and enquiries for pupils with a statutory Plan should be made to the SEND Team at Wiltshire Council.
This is not a direct access service for parent/carers, contact your child's school to discuss if referral to MNERS might be a suitable option.
Wiltshire EMTAS is a Wiltshire Council service, supporting schools to meet the needs of learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL) and other minority ethnic children and young people, including Travellers.
The service consists of:
Bilingual Assistants (peripatetic Teaching Assistants who work alongside learners in the classroom and support with home/school contact)
Specialist TAs who work to support the achievement of Traveller children and help built strong, effective home/school partnerships
Advisory Teachers (who support schools with raising their own capacity through advice and training, and who can assess learners and make recommendations about provision)
Schools can refer individual children to us via the DART. For anything else, or for more informal advice contact service lead Steven Donohue:
Young people with long-term or complex special educational needs will need specialist support. This is the kind of support provided for young people who meet the statutory threshold. These are the young people who have an Education, Health and Care plan. This type of support is completely person-centred, which means it will vary depending on an individual's needs. A separate section on EHCP explains how this works.
The following services all support learners to access the education they need. This may be by providing training to supporting professionals or parent/carers, they also cover a wide range of specialisms in equipment and holistic practices.
Most children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) will have their needs met in local mainstream early years settings, schools or colleges. Every educational setting in Wiltshire must provide high quality teaching that is personalised and age appropriate for all children and young people, including those with SEND.
The SEND Code of Practice 2015 emphasises the need for a graduated approach to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND through early and relevant intervention.
This means that the education setting will follow a series of 'assess, plan, do, review' cycles using their own resources. The educational setting will keep records of the support delivered, using documents such as a 'SEND Support Plan'.
If the child or young person under 25 has still not made expected progress, then a request for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment may be considered. This will help the local authority decide if it is necessary to provide support using an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
For more information about the process and how to apply visit:
All requests for subsidies must be made by the child's school - Wiltshire Music Connect cannot accept requests from parents / carers. Ask your child's school if you want to access these subsidies. If the school isn't aware of the subsidy scheme then ask them to contact Wiltshire Music Connect at info@wiltshiremusicconnect.org.uk (opens new window).
We have a limited budget for tuition subsidies each year and there are caps on the total amount of subsidy available to any one school.
The freedom to educate children at home forms an intrinsic and essential element of educational provision in our society, a right that has been protected by a succession of Education Acts.
If you want to home educate your child, you should inform the headteacher of your child's school and the school should then inform us, see Home education for further information.
For a child with a Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where a Special School is named the situation is different and the local authority must be consulted and give permission for education at home.
The local authority also take responsibility for ensuring that the Education, Health and Care Plan is reviewed annually. For information on home education including a guide for parents visit:
If your child has never attended school, please inform us of your decision to educate at home. You can contact an education welfare officer by email: EWS@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) or you can talk to the SEND team about support with additional needs by visiting Contacting the Wiltshire SEND team.
Wiltshire Council provides a range of sessions on parenting across various ages and specialities.
Time Out for Parents
No diagnosis or EHCP required.
Children with Special Needs (TOFP) is for parents and carers of children with additional or special needs aged 3-11 years. TOFP courses are 2 hours per week for 7 sessions and are free of charge. A medical or formal diagnosis is not required for parents and carers to attend. Wiltshire Council are working in partnership with the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council to offer these courses.
For further information and how to book courses visit:
SWAPP is a partnership programme between parents and their child's setting or school that aims to build an understanding of autism and the challenges and delights it can present.
The programme aims to empower families and staff who are closely involved in supporting a child or young person with autism.
Sessions cover all aspects of autism including communication, sensory issues and behaviour.
Sensory needs can be difficulties with any sense, it is most commonly difficulties with vision or hearing. However, especially among children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders, it can also include challenges with sense of touch or reaction to strong smells or noise levels
Social, emotional and mental health needs relates to how children and young people respond to situations and environments they find themselves in and how they form and maintain relationships
Cognitive and learning needs relates to how a child or young person understands, processes and retains information and therefore, how they are able, or struggle, to learn. For example those with dyslexia
Communication and interaction needs relates to how a child or young person expresses themselves and communicates with those around them. It is most commonly associated with challenges speaking, but can also include children and young people who struggle to express or understand their emotions or to make it clear how they feel
Physical and medical needs are those associated with a child's or young person's body or health. This is most commonly associated with challenges in movement or independent personal care. However, it may include a range of illnesses, or bodily difficulties that affect a child or young person in a setting
Personal Budgets
A personal budget is the money Wiltshire Council allocates to an individual to meet their assessed support needs.
An outcome based assessment will be carried out to establish an approximate figure for how much the council would need to spend to meet an individual's needs.
A personal SEN budget is a sum of money made available to an educational setting by a local council, above and beyond the basic funding settings receive for all children and young people (top up funding), to allow them to meet a child or young person's educational need. This budget will be used to support a child or young person to achieve pre-agreed educational outcomes. The need for a personal budget is considered as part of the statutory assessment. If you have questions about this you can talk to your lead worker if you have one, or Contacting the Wiltshire SEND team.
As of September 2023 there are currently 60 children/young people with Personal Budgets. These range in value, the largest valued at £80,581.
Applications are typically accepted if the Personal Budgets will directly support the outcomes of a learner's Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP).
You can read the policy information and further guidance on personal budgets in the document library.
For schools, parents, and other commissioners of alternative provision
Alternative provision (AP) refers to something in which a learner participates: As part of their regular timetable, away from the site of the school and not led by school staff or by parents.
AP can be 'Commissioned' by schools/ parents/ carers and learners who have been given a budget to manage their educational needs.
Commissioners refers to: Schools or parents of a learner and/or learner, who has been granted a personal budget to meet the outcomes detailed in the learner's EHCP Note. While schools can commission alternative provision for any learner at risk of exclusion or to reengage learners in their education, only those parents/learners who have a personal budget can commission Alternative Provision.
Each educational establishment will have a strategy to support SEN learners and may use their budget in different ways, if they access AP it will be to choose available provision best suited to the individuals needs where possible. For learners with an EHCP there may be additional budget allocated to allow for specific support dependent on reviewing the learners needs. This can be discussed in annual reviews or during initial evaluations. EHCPs always include a section for the voice of parent/carers and the individual to suggest support they feel might benefit them, these suggestions are taken seriously and included with discussions around the plan.
Wiltshire Council has a directory which can be found via Right Choice of providers which have had a level of quality assurance vetting, this helps commissioners get a head start but does not replace the commissioner responsibilities (information can be found in the AP guide). The directory is not definitive, if you have links with a provider that you might like to work with and they are not listed on the Wiltshire Approved Alternative Provision directory, please ask the provider to contact alternativeprovision@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) for further details.
Special school and resource base development projects
Wiltshire Council is working with our local schools to increase the number of special school and resource base places available in Wiltshire to meet growing demand for specialist SEN school places. To read more about this topic visit SEN Place Projects.
Statutory information and guidance
To find more specific statutory information or guidance for parent/ carers or professionals supporting SEND visit our SEND resources section which is linked below:
Important documents, guidance and information for professionals and service users, for example Support Plan templates or SEND strategies for Wiltshire.
