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Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) Swale District
The Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) Team aim to advise and support Early Years settings and schools to build the capacity and confidence to deliver high quality provision for children and young people (CYP) with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to improve pupil progress and outcomes.
A collaborative problem solving approach, using the skills and experience of STLS staff together with the expertise in all settings and schools, lies at the heart of the Service delivery.
Based at The Midas Centre in Meadowfield school, the STLS are part of a wider network of services from Education, Health and Social Care bringing children’s services together to ensure seamless provision for CYP with SEND.
A wide range of training workshops for parents, carers and professionals, are offered at the Midas Centre. In addition, bespoke training packages are delivered to settings and schools throughout Swale
Referral to the Service
Full details of the Local Inclusion Forum Team Request (LIFT) process can be found on the Kelsi website www.kelsi.org.uk
In the first instance, settings should refer to the Early Years Best Practice Guidance and schools should refer to the Mainstream Core Standards to identify what can be done to support the pupils access to the curriculum and ability to make progress from within the school’s own resources.
If it is considered that additional advice, training or support is needed then the LIFT referral form should be completed and a request made for the issues to be discussed at the next LIFT meeting.
Referral requests are made via the weekly LIFT meetings. SENCOs, STLS team, KEPs and Early Help attend LIFT meetings.
There are four main outcomes from a LIFT discussion:
There are two further possible outcomes:
Support is provided across all phases, pre-school, primary and secondary. The team provides specialist advice and support for Cognition and Learning (C and L), Communication and Interaction (C and I) and Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH). The Swale team also has a Speech and Language Therapist providing advice and support in the areas of speech, language and communication. Teachers are broadly dimension specific (C and L, C and I, SEMH) however the current focus is on ensuring that where possible teachers support across more than one dimension so that cases do not have to be passed from one specialist teacher to another when needs are fully identified. In a team where specialist teachers have a varied background and a range of expertise, this is possible and effective.
What can we do?
The STLS team offers a high degree of shared knowledge, skills, expertise and information through: