- Description
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The Specialist Teaching Service supports the most complex SEND children and young people in Southend.
Formed in September 2024, the Specialist Teaching Service was established to empower schools and educational settings in Southend City to effectively address the increasing complexity of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This dynamic, front-facing service works directly within classrooms, providing hands-on support through modelling, assessment, and guidance.
As a service we offer a wide range of SEND support, advice and training opportunities for schools and settings to enable them to deliver high quality inclusive education. We also provide advice and support for individual children with SEND to ensure that the people who work with them and their families are equipped to understand and meet their individual needs.
Specialist Teaching Service (S.T.S) is made up of 5 teams:
- Team 1 - Autism/Social Communication (school year 1 and beyond)
- Team 2 - Cognition and Learning (school year 1 and beyond)
- Team 3 - Physical and Complex Medical Needs (0 to 25 years)
- Team 4 - Sensory Needs -including Multi-Sensory Impairment,Vision and Hearing (0 to 25 years)
- Team 5 - Social Emotional and Mental Health (school year 1 and beyond)
Sometimes a student may need coordinated support through personalised approaches and interventions, modelling strategies, supporting planning, training etc. This support will be tailored for schools and the pupils they support; we are available to support pupils with existing Education, Healtha nd Care Plans and those on SEND support.
Support may be offered through:
- Observations, Advice and Assessments
- Programmes designed to support pupil's needs
- Staff training – small groups, whole school, parents, multi-disciplinary Inset
- Collaborative working with other professionals
- Advice and support for families
- Advice for EHCP's, annual reviews of Individual Education Plans
- Advice related to accessing the curriculum and planning support, and related to learning environments
- Engagement level and multisensory teaching approaches
- Training staff within settings through modelling strategies and interventions
- Transition support
- Training
The Specialist Teaching Service provides a comprehensive training programme tailored for school staff, including SENCOs, Class Teachers, and Learning Support Assistants. Training options include whole-school sessions or targeted workshops focused on specific students or year groups. In addition, our team works directly within classrooms and settings, modelling effective strategies to empower staff to meet the broader SEND needs of their students confidently and effectively.
The Specialist Teaching Service also offer:
- Termly SEND Forum Network meetings- covering key topics, guest speakers and opportunities to network across Southend
- Termly ‘New to SENCO’ development courses- supporting staff who are beginning their journey
- Regular virtual SEND training seminars for Primary and Secondary School staff (up to 20 topics a term)
- SEND Assessment training and advice
From April 25, we will be offering parent carer training events too.
- Website
- Is a referral required?
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Yes, referrals to the service are made by schools. If a parent carer feels their child or young person would benefit from support from the service, please speak to your child's school in the first instance
- Age range
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Children and young people aged 0 to 25 for some teams within the service. Other teams within the service support those from school year 1 and beyond
