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Elmwood & Penrose Federation is a partnership of 2 special schools in Bridgwater, and includes a separate Post 16 centre which is called The Jean Rees Centre. Students can enter the Federation at any age.
Students at the Federation all have either Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN) or Education Health Care Plans (EHCP’s). These are assessment documents that guide the education system in how best to meet the needs of the individual child/young person.
Before an EHCP is considered, there are a number of steps which will have been put in place by your child’s school or nursery in consultation with you, or by health visitors contacting Get Set in Somerset to start to understand the child/young person’s needs.
There are a number of steps that schools and nurseries can put in place to support your child and it should be noted that remaining in mainstream is beneficial for the vast majority of children. However for a very small percentage of school aged children (approximately 2%) the experience of the school’s organisation, curriculum and the size of mainstream school classes does not support their learning and development, and they are unable to thrive in this environment.
The agreement to consider a special school placement should be part of this process, and involve, family, child where possible, health and education professionals.
For children and young people who are in the process of receiving an EHCP the county council will allocate a Casework Officer. It is often the casework officer who makes the approach to the school by preparing documents and information on which the school can make their decision about offering a place.
The process for the school is outlined below:
What happens if we are over- subscribed:
Whether your child would have a friendship group at school – are there other children who are learning in the same way?
Whether your child will be safe within our schools,
Whether your child is developing typically in terms of academic attainment
Sometimes it may be that your child could remain in their local school with their friends but receive support from our Outreach Team