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SEND in Staffordshire

Everything parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) need to know about Staffordshire — the Local Offer, EHCP timeliness, tribunal stats, and all 455 schools with their SEN provision.

OFFICIAL LOCAL OFFER
Staffordshire's SEND Local Offer
Services, support, education, health and social care for 0–25s with SEND
Visit Local Offer →
Ofsted rating: Staffordshire's children's services are currently rated Requires improvement. This means Ofsted has concerns about some services for children. It does not directly reflect SEND support, but SEND provision is often scrutinised in separate Area SEND inspections.

EHCP Timeliness

DfE 2024 data (June 2025 release)
Issued within 20 weeks36.3%
National average: 46.4%
Based on 947 new EHCPs issued in 2024.
Councils must issue new EHCPs within 20 weeks of the request. Exceptions exist but many delays don't qualify.

EHCP Assessment Requests

DfE 2024 data (June 2025 release)
Requests received
2,260
Refused (no assessment)
953
Refusal rate42.2%
National: 25.5%
Lower is better. Refused requests can be appealed to the SEND tribunal — and ~98% of cases heard find in the parent's favour.

SEND Tribunal

Appeals against LA decisions
Tribunal data not yet imported for Staffordshire.
Source: DfE EES ↗

Annual Review Decisions

DfE 2025 release (2024 calendar year) · First published this year
Review decisions within 4 weeks32.2%
National: 44.4%
Based on 6,574 review meetings held in 2024. 557 expected reviews were not held.
After an annual review meeting, LAs must notify parents of the decision (amend, maintain or cease) within 4 weeks. This data was published for the first time in June 2025.

SEN Population

Pupils across all schools in this LA
Live EHCPs maintained (2024/25)
Total EHCPs in force across the LA
8,461
EHCP pupils (rolled up from schools)
8.4% of pupils · Nat avg: 4.8%
10,765
SEN Support (no EHCP)
23.5% of pupils · Nat avg: 13.6%
29,892
Total pupils
127,435

SEN Provision in Staffordshire

Schools with specialist support
Special schools
Dedicated SEN schools
31
With SEN units
Mainstream schools with a dedicated SEN unit
11
With resourced provision
Specialist places within mainstream schools
16
Open SEN Finder →

Primary Needs of EHCP Pupils in Staffordshire

DfE 2024/25 data (June 2025 release)
Most common need in Staffordshire
Speech Language & Communication— 35.3% of EHCPs
Speech Language & Communication35.3%
Social Emotional & Mental Health25.7%
Autism22.2%
Moderate Learning Difficulties10%
Physical Disability2.4%
Specific Learning Difficulties1.9%
Hearing Impairment0.9%
Visual Impairment0.6%
Other0.4%
Severe Learning Difficulties0.3%
Multi-Sensory Impairment0.2%
The primary need is the main reason the EHCP was issued. Many children have co-occurring needs. ASD is the most common primary need nationally.

Schools with SEN provision in Staffordshire

52 schools — special schools, SEN units, and resourced provision
The Haven School
Special
Horton Lodge Community Special School
Special· Good
Hednesford Nursery School
Resourced
Samuel Allsopp Primary and Nursery School
SEN Unit
Wightwick Hall School
SEN Unit· Good
Lyme Brook Independent School
Special
Beacon Independent School
Special
Ivetsey Bank Hospital School
Special
Sutherland School
Special
Painsley Catholic College
Resourced· Good
Ladybird Manor School
Special
Sycamore Meadow Outdoor Learning Centre
Special
Chasetown Community School
SpecialResourced· Good
Saxon Hill Academy
SEN Unit· Good
Longdon Hall School
SpecialSEN Unit
Rugeley School
Special
Draycott Moor College
Special
Two Rivers High School
Resourced· Outstanding
Mortimer House School
Special
The Fountains Primary School
Resourced· Good
Maple Hayes Hall School
Special
Cannock Chase High School
Resourced· Good
River View Primary and Nursery School
SEN Unit· Good
Cheslyn Hay Primary Academy
Resourced
Compass Community School Staffordshire
Special
Norton Canes High School
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Kaleidoscope School
Special
Options Trent Acres School
Special
The Fountains High School
Resourced· Good
Birches First School
Resourced· Good
Showing 30 of 52. Use the SEN Finder to filter and search all of them.

Helpful resources

EHCP Guide →
What an EHCP is, how to apply, appeal process
Annual Review Tracker →
Timeline and stages of EHCP annual reviews
Choosing a SEN School →
Practical guide for SEN parents
Our SEN Methodology →
How we calculate SEN Experience Indicator
DATA SOURCES
School-level SEN data: DfE Education Health and Care plans release + GIAS. LA-level stats: DfE EES + HMCTS SENDIST. Local Offer: Staffordshire Council. National benchmarks are most-recent published values. Last updated: 20 April 2026.