Education (secondary)

Information and links for professionals and parents regarding SEND educational placements in Wiltshire.

For more information please visit: 

Movers in, out, and admissions information

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)
• A Special Projects worker, who works on specific interventions designed to narrow the gaps for learners

Schools can refer individual children to us via the Specific Agency Referral Form (SARF) or the DART.
For anything else, or for more informal advice contact Steven Donohue:

Tel: 01225 75793 

Email: emas@wiltshire.gov.uk

More information at Right Choice.

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.

You can find more information and booking details for SWAPP Parenting Courses here.

• 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 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.

Our OPAL resource is an interactive web-based resource, with supporting development network, which defines what provision education settings should ordinarily make available for children and young people.

You can find out more by visiting: 

OPAL Homepage

Personal budget

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.

Types of personal budget:

• 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 call our single point of contact.

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 for further details.

The most up to date information and support can always be found on the platform for Wiltshire SEN professionals: Right Choice: Alternative Provision resources

Email alternativeprovision@wiltshire.gov.uk to answer any further questions not covered by the Right Choice materials.

All mainstream secondary schools have Enhanced Learning Provision (ELP).

This is for all the learning needs described in the SEN Code of Practice under the headings Cognition and Learning, and Communication and Interaction.

For example specific learning difficulties such as:

• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia
• Autistic spectrum disorders
• Language and communication difficulties
• Moderate learning difficulties

It is expected that the provision will include core elements of a nurturing and supportive environment and provision which supports those pupils with high levels of sensory sensitivity, vulnerability, anxiety and/or intolerance of social and confrontational settings. Provision will include core literacy and numeracy sessions which support and enhance that which is available within the main curriculum. This may also be extended to include other core topics such as PHSE, science or languages. Additional provision which is bespoke to the young person. This may include provision from external providers and other schools, counselling, interventions and possible therapy (e.g. music therapy and equine therapy) specific small group and one to one tuition or support.

Education support - universal and targeted

Parents / carers told us that they often have to rely on word of mouth to understand what 'good' education support looks like. Every educational setting will approach support for young people with special educational needs slightly differently, but we have worked with schools and educational specialists to capture a standard offer. This includes mainstream, special and independent schools.

Education support - specialist support

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 Specialist SEN Service (SSENS) is a team of Specialist Advisory Teachers, supporting children and young people as part of Wiltshire Council's 0-25 SEND Service. We specialise in practical and realistic teaching and learning strategies which are underpinned by current educational research. Each Specialist Advisory Teacher has extensive experience and has undertaken specialist training.
 
We help schools and settings understand and meet the needs of children and young people with identified or suspected special educational needs and/or disabilities. All of the SSENS Team are expert and enthusiastic about minimising the impact of additional learning needs in the classroom.

You can read more by visiting the services home page, they also have a resource area with learning guidance helpful to parents/ carers and professionals:

Right Choice: Specialist SEN Support Team

• Sensory Impairment - Physical or Medical (Word doc) [39KB] (opens new window)
• Sensory Impairment - Visual (Word doc) [18KB] (opens new window)
• Sensory Impairment - Hearing (Word doc) [40KB] (opens new window)
• Behavioural support
• Educational psychology (Word doc) [24KB] (opens new window)
• Educational welfare
• Speech and language therapy

Wiltshire's Accessibility Strategy for Educational Settings

Our aim is for every child and young person in Wiltshire to have the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to respond effectively to challenges of the future. We are committed to closing attainment gaps for disadvantaged learners and ensuring they reach their full potential.

Our  Accessibility Strategy for Educational Settings 2016-19 (PDF) [514KB] (opens new window)  sets out how we will further develop the accessibility of early years and childcare settings, maintained schools and under certain circumstances academies, for pupils parents carers and staff. Through engagement with children and young people, parents/carers and partners, our focus will be on access to:

• Curriculum - increasing the extent to which pupils with SEND can access the Early Years Foundation Stage and schools curriculum to meet their potential and ensure progress
• Environment - improving the physical environment of Early Years settings and schools to increase the extent to which pupils with SEND can take advantage of education and associated services
• Information - improving the delivery to pupils with SEND and their parents and carers of information about the Early Years setting and school.

SEN Information report and policy guide

Information regarding a setting's SEND provision will be held in an SEN information report and policy which should be published on the setting's website. A link to the Wiltshire Local Offer should also be included. This is a statutory requirement for all maintained nurseries, schools and academies from 1 September 2014.

For further information on what information should be presented in a SEN information report and policy, refer to our  SEN information report and policy guide (updated April 2015) (Word doc) [147KB] (opens new window) .