'We've got to do it together'

HEADTEACHER MAKES 'CALL TO ACTION' FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

A HEADTEACHER has made a "call to action" to help children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Stockton.

Kerry Coe, headteacher of St John the Baptist Primary School in Ragworth, Stockton, spoke of her "moral purpose" to include all children as she spoke of the benefits of running new units for SEND children.

She told councillors: "I want to call us all to action to say, how can we identify and remove barriers that are stopping people doing it? It is our collective responsibility to make sure every child in Stockton gets the very best for them, wherever that is. Every child is unique. Every child deserves that chance.

"I will fight with Ofsted every single time they come, to say that's what's important. It's about these young people. We've got to challenge that narrative that some children are too difficult to include. They might have more barriers than we can reasonably manage, but they still need including somewhere, somehow within our schools."

Her school runs two additionally resourced provisions (ARPs) with a total of 30 places, a 24-place SEND unit. It has also taken in children excluded or at risk of exclusion, and runs a virtual school hub for 32 children who have been in care, said Ms Coe in evidence to the council's children and young people select committee, which is reviewing SEND provision.