Nov 9, 2022, Warrington Guardian: Warrington primary schools fear for special needs support https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/23109385.warrington-primary-schools-fear-special-needs-support/
NW England
WARRINGTON schools' budgets are being stretched, leading to fear over the support being provided for students with additional needs.
A new report has been released by the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), and it has warned that 95 per cent of schools will not have a balanced budget next year.
This is based on projections for spending on salaries and increased running costs.
Schools are not permitted to run on a budget deficit, which means that many schools are looking at reducing spending, and even making redundancies.
One of the areas that the report highlights could suffer is the provision of Special Educational Needs or Disability (SEND) support in schools.
At the same time, the Government's education watchdog - Ofsted - is urging schools to provide more SEND support.
Each school in Warrington is required to have a SEND coordinator (SENDCO) who is responsible for overseeing the provision of additional support within their school.
One SENDCO - who will remain nameless - spoke to the Warrington Guardian about the reduced funding and rising costs that are facing schools, and her fears about the provision of support in schools.
She said: "We aim to keep children in the classroom with their peers as much as possible but at times we do need to provide out-of-class support.
"Without the funding to provide extra members of staff, this specific intervention (speech and language therapy, motor skills interventions, social communication groups) is just not possible.
