Strategic priorities and proposals

2024-2025 school year

In Trafford, children with additional needs benefit from excellent mainstream and special school provision. However, we are aware that we have very limited capacity to meet increasing demand for places in both primary and secondary settings in the future.

We have a strategic priority to increase capacity within local specialist provision, including small specialist classes and resourced provision within mainstream schools, to meet the increasing demand for places.

We want to support our schools and settings within the borough to meet this increasing demand, as we believe that local provision offers the best outcomes for children and young people. This fits with our commitment to inclusive mainstream settings within our SEND Ambitions plan, and our aim to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND within the local area.

Our understanding of these local priorities is informed by our SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, the SEND Ambitions Plan, and the knowledge that all places in special schools and small specialist classes are full in September 2024.

Small specialist classes in primary schools

Small specialist classes (SSC) have been developed to make sure the majority of pupils with complex special educational needs can have their additional needs met within a mainstream school. These classes are usually for around 10 pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Staff are experienced and trained in the particular specialism of each class as well as general special needs and additional needs.

Pupils from the SSC often spend time in the bigger classes in the school. When they show themselves able to cope with the social and educational demands of the mainstream class in particular areas of the curriculum, and they are fully integrated into general school life.

A review in 2018 highlighted how vital these classes are to supporting children with additional needs in Trafford.

Resourced provision in secondary schools

In 2021, we completed a review of the secondary resourced provision based at Lostock High School in the north of the borough.

This provision has been extremely successful in meeting the needs of students with autism spectrum and social communication needs.

It expanded from initially having 10 pupils in 2018 to 22 pupils in 2021, and is now at 30 pupils in 2024.

This provision offers young people with autism spectrum and social communication needs the flexibility of accessing a mainstream curriculum whilst providing them with additional support to overcome the environmental challenges a secondary school context can present.

The review detailed high-quality teaching and learning experiences, found that children are well supported, and outcomes are good.

We therefore commissioned additional resourced provision at Wellington School in the south of the borough in 2023, and this now supports 25 pupils. Both our secondary resourced provisions are now full.

Proposals

This is a summary of the specific proposals we are consulting on:

Additional small specialist classes in primary schools

An expression of interest round for mainstream primary schools was undertaken in 2022; unfortunately partner schools identified were not able to proceed. A second expression of interest round was undertaken in March 2024, and we have now identified two new partner schools to progress the proposals, one in the south of the borough and one in the west.

The second round has brought further primary interest due to spaces opening up in more schools, and this has meant we have been able to consider an increased number of opportunities due to being able to achieve greater value for money.

We have also identified a partner school in the south of the borough to deliver an SSC/Nurture Centre for reception and key stage one pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs.

Additional resource provision at Broadoak School

Our two current resource provisions are now at maximum growth and are oversubscribed. We have been working closely with the Dean Trust and are proposing to create an additional 25-place resourced provision at Broadoak School, a secondary school in the west of the borough, from September 2026.

This is an exciting opportunity for us to be able to work together to provide a geographical model for resourced secondary provision, so children's needs can be met in their local community.

Brentwood School expansion

We previously consulted to create an additional 45 places at Brentwood School, a secondary special school and sixth form in the central locality. This has subsequently changed and the capital scheme will now provide an additional 80 places. This is an exciting development that aims to keep more children and young people within their local area.

Developing nurture group provision – small capital grants scheme

We are now inviting primary and secondary schools to submit expressions of interest to deliver in-house inclusion/nurture group provision. We are offering small capital grants of up to £10,000 per school to improve the physical environment to support this approach.

Some primary and secondary schools have already chosen to set up their own teacher-led internal small class provision, for mornings only, for example, or small group alternative provision to support relational approaches and sensory regulation.

We would like to see expressions of interest where a small capital budget could support this type of space, with a recognition of how the school would support professional development for the workforce to enable successful outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

Specialist satellite provision on mainstream school sites

We would like to further explore a satellite provision model to deliver specialist school places on mainstream school sites through locality partnerships between mainstream and special schools. We are looking for mainstream and special schools, at any phase, interested in working with us to further explore this type of model.

To facilitate this, mainstream schools would need a classroom space, an inclusive ethos, and an open approach to have children as part of their school community whilst being on the roll of a local special school and taught by special staff. 

Expressions of interest could come from mainstream schools willing to be matched with a special school or in partnership with a special school.