COUNCIL BOOSTS ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHILDREN WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT NEEDS

Argyll and Bute Council is to modernise its arrangements for children and young people with additional support needs in mainstream schools.

The new structure is designed to give schools more autonomy and stability in staffing issues around pupils with additional needs, and at the same time increase the council’s ability to respond flexibly to needs which might emerge during the school session.

The changes concern the management of the service. The support provided to children with additional support needs will not be affected.

Since 1991, Argyll and Bute has operated Area Network Support Teams (ANSTs) to support pupils with additional support needs and their teachers within mainstream schools.

These pupils may also be supported by non-teaching staff within the school (pupil support assistants or classroom assistants) or support allocated by the council (additional support needs assistants).

However, the introduction of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 widened the range of additional support needs. This, coupled with the growth in the inclusion of pupils with additional support needs in mainstream schools, led Argyll and Bute Council to review its current arrangements.

The review group - which included head teachers, a principal educational psychologist, quality improvement officers and the ANST co-ordinator – recommended a new structure, which was approved by the Executive today.

The ANST coordinators will be replaced by principal teachers in each area (Cowal; Mid Argyll and Kintyre; Helensburgh and Lomond; Oban, Lorn and the Isles; Bute; Islay and Jura and Mull and Iona), each of whom will have a specialism in an area such as autism spectrum disorder, hearing impairment, visual impairment or child protection.

In addition, there will be two education support officers, one of whom will focus on behavioural difficulties and the other on health and wellbeing, equalities and impairment. And each area will also have an appropriate number of pupil support teachers and additional support needs assistants.

The new structure will be overseen by a new quality improvement manager, who will have overall responsibility for all aspects of pupil support across Argyll and Bute. This will ensure a more integrated approach to supporting children and young people with additional support needs.

The principal teachers will have the responsibility – in collaboration with the educational psychologist and the quality improvement manager – of allocating pupil support teachers to schools. These support teachers will be managed by a senior leader in the schools in which they work.

Councillor Isobel Strong, Argyll and Bute’s spokesperson for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “This is a change to the management of the service, rather than a change to the actual service which children with additional support needs and their families will receive.

“The new arrangements will give leaders in individual schools the responsibility for deployment and line management of support teachers working within their school.

“This will provide schools with more autonomy and flexibility in relation to meeting their pupils’ needs.”

In the past, schools have benefited from support from lead teachers in hearing impairment and visual impairment.

Councillor Strong said: “The new structure will increase the provision of lead teachers to include autism spectrum disorder, child protection, physical impairment and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Support from these teachers will be available to all schools.”

To see a copy of the full report, please go to http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/moderngov/Published/C00000376/M00004166/AI00052912/$FinalRevisedSupporttoschoolsexecutivepaper28May2010.docA.ps.pdf