Special Educational settings (inc Outreach and Specialist Provisions) | Educational Settings (nurseries, schools, colleges etc)

Within Kirklees, there are number of specialist setting for children or young people with very complex special educational needs. In order to go to these settings, the child or young person needs to have an EHCP and a place at a specialist setting can be considered at an EHCP review or in the case of a new EHCP, during the first EHCP planning meeting.

We also have a number of specialist provisions, which are units within mainstream schools to support children and young people with specific SEND whilst also accessing some mainstream education, a child or young also requires an EHCP to access these settings and the way to get a place in these settings is through an EHCP review or at the initial planning meeting if this is a new EHCP.

In Kirklees the Specialist Provision teams consist of specialist teachers and support staff who have practical experience of working with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in local mainstream schools.

The teams work with schools to support staff in promoting the educational inclusion and achievement of pupils with sensory needs (visual impairment and hearing impairment), physical impairment, and students with complex communication and interaction needs, which includes those with autistic spectrum condition (ASC).

Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (links open new page)

Fairfield School

Castle Hill School

Complex Needs School

Ravenshall School (Ravenshall also offers a post 16 option, called Preparing for Adulthood)

Southgate School

Autism Specialist School

Woodley School and College

Social, emotional and mental health specialist School (including those with behavioural and anxiety issues)

Joseph Norton Academy (Kirklees Key Stage 2 – 4 provision)

Within Kirklees, we also have Ethos Academy Trust which provides education for those who are at risk of permanent exclusion, or who have been excluded already. Ethos also provides education for children and young people who cannot attend an educational setting due to medical reasons (such as anxiety or complex medical reasons) (All ages up to 16)

Ethos Academy Trust consists of three parts:

Engage Academy – ages 5-11
Reach Academy – ages 11-14
Ethos College – ages 14-16, this provides longer term full time education.

To access the education provided by Ethos Academy Trust, schools need to complete a SPR (Single Point of Referral) form which can be found on the Ethos website (opens in new page).

Children and young people who attend any of the Ethos Academies or receive education from them are usually “dual registered” at a mainstream school and Ethos. If children attend Engage or Reach Academy They will usually attend one of the Ethos Academies for a set period of time and then return to their mainstream school after this time. If the child or young person has been permanently excluded from a school, Ethos will work to ensure that the right school is found for them as well as ensuring that the right support will be in place, this may mean that Ethos will apply for an EHCP for that child or young person. If a child or young person attends Ethos, they will usually attend full time for years 10 and 11.

If a child or young person is receiving education from Ethos due to medical reasons, Ethos will work individually with those young people in their home, at a public place or in a medical setting depending on the young person.

The specialist provisions in Kirklees offer a number of fixed places and transitional places. Fixed places are for children and young people with an EHC Plan who have complex needs and require a specific environment that cannot be replicated in all schools and so they must attend specialist provision full time.

Transitional places are available in order to identify and assess needs, establish appropriate curriculum and teaching strategies and prepare all parties for the child’s transition to the local school named in the EHCP. Students are normally able to attend on a transitional place for up to 6 terms (this may vary depending upon the actual setting).

Visual Impairment (as well as providing Habilitation outreach support)

Dalton School (Primary)

Moorend Academy (Secondary)

Hearing Impairment

Lowerhouses CE (VC) School (Primary)

Newsome High School (Secondary)

Physical Impairment

Newsome High School (secondary)

Complex Communication and Interaction - CCI (including autism)

Windmill C of E School (primary)

Honley High School (secondary)

Thornhill Community Academy (secondary)

Royds Hall Community School (secondary)

Social, Emotional and mental health (including behaviour issues and anxiety)

Ethos Academy Trust (Primary and secondary)

Outreach

As well as provided specialist placements within mainstream the specialist provisions also provide outreach services to other mainstream schools within Kirklees. This means that members of staff from the specialist provisions will go and do some work in mainstream schools.

Each specialist setting provides support for young people by going to their school, as well as providing support and training for existing school staff. Children and young people do not need an EHCP to access this support.

Schools can access this support by completing a referral form available through the Kirklees Intranet.

More information about outreach support can be found on this Local Offer page (opens in new window)

Parents and Carers “Phone-in” sessions.

Available for parents and carers of children nursery 2 to Year 6 who have been referred to the service.

Contact Naheed Akhtar, Claire Thorpe or Karen McKevitt 10am-12pm

Telephone: 01924 483744 with:

Parent/carer’s name
Child’s name
Childs age/year group
Child’s school
A contact phone number

The Business Support Officer will put your call through to the appropriate team member.

Available every Wednesday

We have links with a number of provisions that are not within Kirklees, such as those in neighbouring council areas (mainly Leeds, Calderdale, Wakefield and Bradford). Each of these councils has a local offer page which details what special schools they have (all links open new page).

Leeds local offer

Bradford local offer

Wakefield local offer

Calderdale local offer

Kirklees will also sometimes use independent specialist settings. Details of these schools can be found in the schools directory area (opens new page). If you are considering one of these settings, then it is advisable to speak with SENDACT (opens new page) about this. Please note, in order to attend one of these settings the child or young person must have an EHCP.

The Children’s and Families Act 2014 (opens new page) states that councils need to use approved schools. These schools have been approved under section 41 of this act and a list of all approved schools is published by the government, this can be found in the Section 41 Approved providers list (opens new page).

Natspec can also provide a list of approved schools and can search by map, this can be found on the Natspec website (opens new page).

C&K Careers can also provide advice on what independent settings are available, contact details can be found on the C&K Careers information page (opens new page).

For help to understand how to apply for specialist setting place, please click on the image below or look at the information in the drop-down boxes below.

Please note, a child or young person must have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in order to be able to request a place at a specialist setting.

Step 1:

First, look at the information about special schools and specialist provisions on the Local Offer on this page.

You can also use the school search on the Local Offer to search for Specialist settings both in and out of Kirklees—including independent specialist settings.

Local Offer School search page.

Step 2:

A child or young person needs an EHCP to be able to access a specialist setting. If your child does not have one, please go to the How to apply for an EHCP page.

Requests for a specialist setting need to be done through a EHCP review meeting or when an EHCP is created. It is a good idea to speak with the SENCO at your child’s setting BEFORE the meeting so they can invite the right people to the review. More information on EHCP can be found on the EHCP review page.

School will gather all the views of the professionals working with the child and send this along with the review paper work to a team called SENDACT, more information about this team can be found on the SENDACT page.

Step 3:

SENDACT will consider this information at a Specialist decision making group (DMG) where they will either agree or disagree that the child or young person requires a specialist setting. This decision making group (DMG) will include people from special schools, educational psychology, health, social care as well as other educational professionals.

If the decision making group (DMG) agree to the request, SENDACT will contact the schools requested by parents, however they may also contact their own choice of schools if it is closer, less expensive or considered to be more suitable for the child or young persons needs.

If the decision making group (DMG) don’t agree, they may suggest other ways the current setting can support the child. If you don’t agree with this, then you will be able to appeal this decision. More details about this can be found on the EHCP review page.

Step 4:

If the new setting agree to offer the child a place, then they will agree a start date and work with the existing setting to ensure there is a smooth transition from one setting to the next.

If you feel that your child is not getting the support they need, you can get help from the various support groups on the Local Offer who can offer you independent advice. Details of these groups can be found on the Support groups and advice page.

If you disagree with any decisions that have been made, please see the disagreements page.

For more information about how to apply for a specialist school place, please see the Applying for a school place for a child with special needs Local Offer page.