£1.7m to help Calderdale schools support SEND kids
Calderdale has been allocated £1.7m of Government cash to help children with SEND needs.
The money - a share of £429m being invested across England – is so that an ‘Experts at Hand’ service can be established in Calderdale, designed to give schools easy access advice from professionals such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists.
Calderdale Council will be asked to work closely with the NHS and schools to determine how the money should be spent.
Final guidance will be published by the Government next month setting out how this should be done.
Josh Fenton-Glynn, MP for Calder Valley, has welcomed the investment.
“It has been clear for some time that children, young people and families are really struggling in the SEND system,” he said.
"I don’t doubt that school staff do their best, but sometimes expert advice is needed to determine what exactly will help them.
“I’m looking forward to meeting with the council and NHS in the coming weeks and months to see how we can use the opportunity provided by this funding to really improve things for children across Calder Valley.”
Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould, said: “Too often, young people with SEND face a long wait for the support they need, holding them back from building important skills and thriving in education.
“We recently set out our generational SEND reforms to turn this around, and now, we’re getting on and backing councils with the funding needed to transform the system and make sure every young person receives the right support early on.”