Kerry Coe spoke of a ‘moral purpose’ and ‘collective responsibility to make sure every child in Stockton gets the very best for them’

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.

The committee has heard how the ARP and SEN units created 155 school places, with Stockton Council investing an extra £730,000 a year to create them. Primary schools are on board, but a “disappointing” response from secondary schools with “no interest” in the SEN units has left “significant gaps” and parents are scared about their children’s futures, wanting more secondary schools to “step up”.

Ms Coe said they had seen improved progress and attainment with the new units, but “it doesn’t look like a score on the door”. She said: “I’m not going to lie, my data is not pretty. But my data includes every pupil, and every pupil is not a statistic, every pupil is a person. “Yes I want all my young people to attain highly, but highly for them. And it’s about individual progress. For some children it can take a really long time to get those tiny steps of progress. But when you get it, it’s fantastic.

“Definitely some schools would see that as a really difficult barrier and suggest that their children come to our school rather than theirs because Kerry’s good with SEN. These children do impact your headline data.

“Do I care that they impact my data? No I don’t. Do Ofsted? Yes. Do I care? No. But that is a barrier.”

She said inclusion was “non-negotiable” and “what we live and breathe”, offering everything to every child including residential experiences for children with more complex needs, school sleepovers, ice skating with wheelchairs, shopping trips and beach visits. “Whatever it takes is what we do.”

“Our children support and love each other. They understand, care for and are compassionate about other people.

“We try to remove any barriers to learning. I get very cross if children with SEND, disabilities, different needs, can’t access certain things.

“Funding is not a barrier. The way you perceive it is.

“It’s about being creative, having that passion. If you want to make it work you can make it work, if you don’t you’re not going to.”