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SEND in Wirral

Everything parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) need to know about Wirral — the Local Offer, EHCP timeliness, tribunal stats, and all 138 schools with their SEN provision.

OFFICIAL LOCAL OFFER
Wirral's SEND Local Offer
Services, support, education, health and social care for 0–25s with SEND
Visit Local Offer →
Ofsted rating: Wirral'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 weeks12.6%
National average: 46.4%
Based on 716 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
1,443
Refused (no assessment)
125
Refusal rate8.7%
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 Wirral.
Source: HMCTS SENDIST stats ↗

Annual Review Decisions

DfE 2025 release (2024 calendar year) · First published this year
Review decisions within 4 weeks38.6%
National: 44.4%
Based on 3,806 review meetings held in 2024. 341 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
4,858
EHCP pupils (rolled up from schools)
7.8% of pupils · Nat avg: 4.8%
3,774
SEN Support (no EHCP)
21.4% of pupils · Nat avg: 13.6%
10,316
Total pupils
48,138

SEN Provision in Wirral

Schools with specialist support
Special schools
Dedicated SEN schools
15
With SEN units
Mainstream schools with a dedicated SEN unit
6
With resourced provision
Specialist places within mainstream schools
26
Open SEN Finder →

Primary Needs of EHCP Pupils in Wirral

DfE 2024/25 data (June 2025 release)
Most common need in Wirral
Social Emotional & Mental Health— 31.8% of EHCPs
Social Emotional & Mental Health31.8%
Speech Language & Communication30.1%
Autism18.2%
Moderate Learning Difficulties5.2%
Specific Learning Difficulties4.3%
Physical Disability2.6%
Other2.2%
Profound & Multiple LD1.3%
Severe Learning Difficulties0.7%
Hearing Impairment0.3%
Visual Impairment0.3%
Multi-Sensory Impairment0.1%
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 Wirral

44 schools — special schools, SEN units, and resourced provision
Co-op Academy Woodslee
Resourced· Good
Brackenwood Junior School
Resourced· Good
St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Clare Mount Specialist Sports College
Special· Outstanding
Manor Primary School
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Eastway Primary School
Resourced· Good
Horizons Independent School
Special
IMPACT Northwest Schools
Special
Meadowside School
Special
Grove Street Primary School
Resourced· Good
Ganneys Meadow Nursery School and Family Centre
SEN UnitResourced· Outstanding
Kilgarth School
Special· Good
Stanley School
Special· Good
Utopia
Special
Edstart Schools Wirral
Special
Chapelhill Primary School
Resourced· Requires Improvement
Elleray Park School
Special· Outstanding
Wirral Grammar School for Boys
Resourced· Good
Hayfield School
Special· Good
Gilbrook School
Special· Outstanding
Co-op Academy Hillside
Resourced
St Michael and All Angels Catholic Primary School
SEN Unit· Good
Devonshire Park Primary School
SEN UnitResourced· Good
The Priory Parish CofE Primary School
Resourced
Birkenhead Christ Church CofE Primary School
Resourced· Good
Foxfield School
Special· Good
Stanton Road Primary School
Resourced· Good
West Kirby School and College
Special· Outstanding
The Observatory School
Special
Wirral Wrap
Special
Showing 30 of 44. 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: Wirral Council. National benchmarks are most-recent published values. Last updated: 20 April 2026.