Our Vision

We want all children in Wigan to be happy, healthy, and safe; to feel listened to and to have the maximum opportunities to be ambitious. If children or their families need help and support, it should be at the right time, by the right person and in the right place for them.To achieve this, we want to be ‘brilliant at the basics’ in our practice, and by having creative and collaborative partnerships. This strategic plan has been coproduced based on our collective understanding of the action we need to take to improve the experiences of children and young people with SEND as set out in our:

• Joint strategic needs assessment
• SEND self-assessment
• The big SEND survey.

Our priorities

All our priorities are shaped by the principles of communication and coproduction.

High quality education 

Ensure children and young people with SEND, including those attending independent, non-maintained and alternative provision sectors, have access to high-quality education which supports them to achieve their full potential and prepare them for adulthood.

Ensure that the workforce has the skills, expertise, and confidence to provide a good quality education to its learners with SEND. Secure sufficient local specialist educational and alternative provision places to meet the current and future needs of children and young people living in Wigan.

Improve the offer of support for all children and young people with SEND, including those receiving SEN support, so that there is a collective system wide response to meeting pupils needs in Wigan schools.

Work with school leaders to promote best practice in the borough and to drive forward a system wide commitment to inclusion, so that all children and young people with SEND have access to an inclusive setting which can meet their needs.

Work with school leaders to improve educational outcomes for children and young people with SEND and narrow the gap between them and their peers.

Good levels of health and wellbeing for children and young people with SEND

Utilise the intelligence from education, health, and care providers to identify and address the emerging needs of younger children at the earliest opportunity.

Work together to meet the health and medical needs of children and young people by providing high quality training and supervision, and access to appropriately trained healthcare support where required.Improve the wait times for children and young people waiting for speech and language services and those undergoing an assessment for autism and ADHD.

Improve the experiences of Wigan children and young people with SEND and their families so that they have access to help and support during the assessment process.

Ensure that children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties have access to early help and intervention to prevent their needs from escalating.

Continue to increase the take-up of learning disability health checks for young people to improve the quality of their lives.

Work together to ensure that children and young people with SEND feel safe and are protected from harm.

Improved inclusion for children and young people with SEND so they feel connected to their local community

Improve the identification of children and young people at the earliest point so they can benefit from support tailored to meet their needs.

Work together to support learners with SEND and those in alternative provision to attend their school/setting on a regular basis.

Promote evidence-based strategies to address the needs of children and young people who are at risk of exclusion from school.

Ensure that children and young people with SEND have access to inclusive before and after school clubs, holiday schemes and short breaks which are flexible to meet the needs of families accessing support.

Implement a multi-agency response to those children and young people experiencing emotional school-based avoidance.

Develop the role of alternative provision in Wigan’s education system which includes a focus on support to maintain placement stability, reintegration, and appropriate learning pathways.

A partnership that listens to the voice of children and young people with SEND and their families

Embed the co-production charter to ensure a partnership approach to working with children, young people, and their families.

Amplify the voice of the child and young person in our assessment and planning process, so they are empowered to actively participate in decision making.

Improve the experiences of the education, health and care assessment and planning process so that children and young people have access to timely and quality provision which meets their needs.

Facilitate regular engagement opportunities with children and young people with SEND and their families, seeking their views to help us shape services.Continue to develop and improve the Local Offer website, to make it more accessible for children, young people, and their families. 

Improve our day-to-day communication with families and use evidence of lessons learned from compliments and complaints to make continuous improvements to our services.

Embed multi-agency audits of the impact of our work on children and young people with SEND to drive forward improvements in practice.

Children and young people with SEND are prepared for adulthood

Put in place more accessible information about the processes and opportunities available to young people to prepare them for adulthood.

Work with schools to make sure that young people with SEND have access to good quality careers advice and guidance.

Improve access to work-based opportunities such as work experience, traineeships, supported internships and apprenticeships to better prepare young people with SEND for work.

Support young people with SEND to develop their independence skills so that young people are confident to travel independently,and have increased opportunities for socialising, further education, and employment.

Improve the transition process across the child/young person’s education, health and social care journey to ensure a positive experience.