Volunteers supporting Wirral’s journey to inclusion

A team of volunteers, with a passion for improving the lives of young people, will be working with Wirral’s schools to help them give children the right support to achieve their aspirations. 

Put together by Wirral Council, this team dubbed ‘The Graduates’, will become ‘inclusion specialists’ helping mainstream schools become places where the diverse needs of all children can be accommodated.

As part of the work taking place across the borough to improve special education needs and /or disability (SEND) services, the council has set out a new way of assessing and meeting children’s needs in schools, called the Graduated Approach. 

The Graduated Approach involves schools and other educational settings assessing a child's needs, planning and trialling different types of support, learning from what has worked and what needs revising.

The Graduates will help schools understand and use the Graduated Approach which in turn will see all children, whether their needs be short or long-term, given the right level of support to achieve their aspirations.

Chair of Wirral Council’s Children, Young People and Education Committee, Cllr Stephen Bennett, said: “All children deserve the chance to achieve their dreams, but some need more support than others to get there. Schools and teachers want our children to be the best they can be so we’ve put in place a new way for them to determine what their students need and how they can provide it. This team of ‘Graduates’ is here to give them another level of support.”

Many local people came forward to volunteer to be a ‘Graduate’. They come from all walks of life and include leaders and practitioners from education and the local authority. They’ve been through a training process to give them the tools they need to go into school and provide support. Each volunteer has their own unique skill set and they have been matched with settings that suits their skills.

The Graduates will be working in their own time, working around their own jobs and families to support this programme. They all share one common goal; to foster environments in mainstream schools where children with extra needs have parity and can not only be supported but also succeed. 

A total of 13 schools so far have signed up for involvement in the programme and more are due to come on board.

The Chair of Children, Young People and Education Committee, Cllr Stephen Bennett, said: “It’s incredibly important for children and young people with SEND to be supported to succeed, so I’m pleased to see Wirral developing and delivering such an innovative project. “

The Graduate Programme is part of the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND Programme. 

In 2023 the council became one of 55 local authorities chosen to participate in the Department for Education’s DBV in SEND programme.  DBV in SEND aims to improve ways of working for children and young people with SEND.

The scheme provides financial support and examples of best practice to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and manage financial pressures, in a sustainable way.