AQW 32710/22-27
Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford
Tabled Date: 03/10/2025
Answered On Date: 17/10/2025
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to outline how he will ensure that children with special educational needs who are placed in specialist provision in mainstream schools are able to access the same support services, and allied health professionals as those in special schools.
Answer:
The Education Authority (EA) has advised that: The Specialist Provisions service provides a graduated response to Specialist Provisions in mainstream schools. This includes link support, universal support, targeted support and specialist support. Universal programmes have been intentionally designed to build the capacity of settings to meet the needs of children and young people and parents/carers with increasing confidence and skill. This is done through training, modelling, and capacity building. Targeted support programmes are aimed at setting staff, parents/carers or children and young people in specific targeted groups or at specific times in a pupil's developmental journey. This could include, for example, transition programmes, parent/carer and setting cluster groups, school-based training, teacher advice and guidance or group interventions. However, specialist support is also available to settings. Specialist, intensive support will focus on the needs of an individual child or young person. It will have clearly agreed outcomes and is time-bound. A programme of intensive support will focus on the identified and assessed needs of an individual pupil. This type of support may be offered for those pupils with persistent needs who have not responded positively to other strategies. Intensive support can be accessed through the specialist provision’s allocated link teacher or by emailing SPSInfo@eani.org.uk The Specialist Provisions Service provide extensive professional learning and development to aid schools in supporting pupils displaying behaviours of concern. Through the SDS online calendar staff in specialist provisions can access training on ‘Supporting pupils with Social Behavioural Emotional and Wellbeing needs in Specialist Provisions' as well as training and follow-up support of the ‘Inclusion and Wellbeing toolkit’ for Post Primary Settings. Further to this we provide accredited TEAM Teach training to all staff working in Specialist Provisions Special. This details de-escalation strategies and how to avoid injury. This is renewed on an annual basis. For pupils in other provisions the Education Authority’s (EA) support services have developed an enhanced professional learning whole school framework, called “Connecting & Caring Across the Whole School Community” This programme was delivered as a pilot for staff working in specialist provisions during 2023/ 2024 academic year A reviewed and a revised version was delivered again in February 2025. Whilst this framework is to support the embedding of a trauma informed and nurturing whole school community ethos and culture for responding to behaviours that require intervention, there is recognition that some of the more complex pupil profiles require a training package that includes an aspect of risk reduction involving physical intervention in the form of prompts, guides and restrictive physical interventions (RPI). To address this need, the Specialist Provisions Service is in the process of developing criteria to offer this training to staff working with children who have more complex profiles. The Education Authority continues to work collaboratively with Health Trusts on such cross-departmental matters as meeting the complex needs of children and young people, however, it should be noted that Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are employed by the local Health Trusts rather than by the Education Authority
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