Back to main websiteSEND September 2025
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Find links to useful resources, webinars, podcasts and more to support children in relation to SEND
How to navigate through the toolkit
Welcome to the SEND toolkit
This toolkit has been designed to help practitioners who work or volunteer with children and families who need some level of SEND support. To navigate through the toolkit, you can do so in a variety of ways; either by using the quick links section at the top right of the page and at the bottom centre of the page, or if you prefer to look through all of the toolkit pages, you can click the ‘next’ button at the bottom right of the screen, this will take you through our ‘Explore’ series for a deeper dive into neurodiversity, non-verbal communication and complex care support.
Safeguarding & SEND
Safeguarding children with SEND is everyone's business and is not the sole responsibility of specialist teams. We take a partnership approach to safeguarding all children regardless of their vulnerabilities.
Children with SEND may have:
- additional needs
- additional support for learning
- additional learning needs
Being aware of the added vulnerabilities that SEND children may encounter will help you to better protect them.
Some children may have additional vulnerabilities because they:
- have additional communication needs
- do not understand that what is happening to them is abuse
- need intimate care or are isolated from others
- are dependent on adults for care
What are the different areas of SEND?
There are 4 main areas of need:
- Communication and interaction: This area covers difficulties with speech, language, and non-verbal communication, as well as challenges in understanding social cues.
- Cognition and learning: This includes children who learn at a slower pace than others, have difficulties with understanding, memory, and organisation, or struggle with literacy and numeracy. This might also include learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyspraxia and other cognitive difficulties
- Social, emotional and mental health difficulties: This area addresses difficulties in managing relationships, anxiety, withdrawing from social situations, or other challenges with social, emotional, and mental health
- Sensory and/or physical needs: This includes difficulties with sensory processing (like sight or hearing) and various physical impairments or disabilities that affect a child's ability to access facilities and carry out daily activities.
Take a deep dive into our 'Explore' series below
Wakefield Local Offer
The SEND Local Offer is something every Local Authority has to have.
The Wakefield local offer is a resource for parents, carers and professionals. Visit Wakefield SEND Local Offer | Wakefield SEND Local Offer for more information.
For more information download the one minute guide to the Wakefield Local offer
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Show details
Professional Curiosity & Challenge Much of our learning comes from audits and review and we know that professional curiosity and challenge is something that all services need to better embed in all areas of safegarding, and SEND is no exception. This resource will help you understand why and when professional curiosity is important and will provide guidance to help build confidence in your practise. A child with SEND is just as likely to be at risk of harm as any other. Remember to think 'child first, disability later'.Take a look at the resources to get you started
Or watch the quick 3 minute video below…
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Local Contacts
01924 302465 or email:
sengroup@wakefield.gov.ukFor all SENART queries
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Complex Care Needs Team enquiries 01924 302124
or for school admissions / school transport call 01924 305619
Support in Wakefield
