Your views about Gateshead's Local Offer

We welcome your views about our Local Offer. If you think information is missing or needs to be added or updated you can tell us using the contact details below. We also want you to tell us if you couldn't find a service you were looking for so we can either signpost you in the right direction or work towards filling that gap in provision.

Email: senteam@gateshead.gov.uk

Your views on SEND developments

We are committed to ensuring that children and young people with SEND and their parents and carers are fully involved in the way SEND services are developed and provided so we will post information about developments we are working on below to ask what you think about them.   

How we plan to spend our SEND Capital Allocation 2018-2020

The SEND Capital Provision Allocations support local authorities (LAs) to make capital investments in provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. Local authorities can invest in new places and improvements to facilities for pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans in mainstream and special schools, nurseries, colleges and other provision. Gateshead has been allocated a total of £964,000 for the period 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Local authorities are required to complete and publish a concise plan to show how they intend to invest their share of the fund.  You can view the plan here:

Gateshead SEND Capital Fund Plan [114.65KB]

Gibside School in Whickham has been deemed to continue to be "Outstanding" following its most recent inspection in March 2017. It currently meets the needs of pupils aged 3 - 11 with learning difficulties. It also meets the needs of pupils with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The school has further developed its Early Years Foundation Stage provision at Blaydon/Winlaton Children's Centre for pre-school children. 

At present there are 130 children on roll, however despite recently extending the school, the demand for places at Gibside School from within Gateshead has exceeded the accommodation available. In addition, there are significant transport issues due to the constraints of the site. There is also insufficient space within Blaydon/Winlaton Children's Centre to expand further. 

The proposal is to develop a new build special educational needs school for pupils aged 3 through to 11 years. The new school will be built in a geographically central area of Gateshead, providing teaching accommodation for 170 pupils. The bespoke facility will include hydrotherapy facilities and will cater for the needs of children with profound and multiple learning disabilities as well as those with other complex communication and medical needs. 

In 2018, we consulted with parents/ carers on the above proposal via our Local Offer website, our Local Offer Facebook page and via our Parent-Carer Forum and no responses were received.

We consulted with a group of pupils at Hilltop School in April 2018; the results are below:

• Hilltop pupils views [119.58KB]

An online consultation exercise was carried out from 20 March to 24 April 2019 about the proposal to relocate and rebuild Gibside school on the Shipcote playing field.

     A total of 97 responses were received.

• 9 from parent/carers of children attending Gibside School.

• 2 from staff members at Gibside School.

• 37 from someone living or working near to the proposed new school site.

• 21 from someone living or working near to the existing school site.

• 28 from someone else

  Outcomes from the consultation

• All the responses from parents/carers of children attending Gibside School were positive on the relocation, rebuilding and expansion of the school. Respondents felt that expansion was essential to increase the quality of work the school could provide for a greater number of children and in a more central location. The only concerns raised were;

• whether the proposed new school would provide sufficient places in the long term

• whether the parking area was large enough, including the increased drop off area, so as to avoid any potential traffic congestion and impact in the Shipcote area.

  The main concern from respondent's who were going to be living or working in the area of the new school site was the loss of communal green space and the impact on parking in the area. The site is also currently used as overflow parking for both the leisure centre and Library. Residents were concerned about the impact that additional traffic in the area would have and that consideration should be given to parking permits for the immediate vicinity of the new school site. Some respondents were however supportive of the new school as they 'regarded the area as a blot on the landscape'.

  In addition, concerns were raised about;

• the future use of the current Gibside School

• the limited communal space in the winter months when Saltwell Park is closed (after dark)

More information is available on the Gov.uk website 

You Said, We Did

The feedback we have received so far and what we have done as a result can be found in our ' 'You said, we did' summary [222.06KB].

The Views of children about the SEN support provided at their school report [3.85MB] highlights the views of 241 children and young people with SEND who were interviewed in groups at their school/placement by the Council's Disabled Children's Involvement worker during September-December 2016. We shared this information with schools to improve how we ensure the views of children and young people to be heard.  

How to raise a concern or complaint

Visit our webpage for more information on raising concerns or making a complaint.

Who can help you put your point across

There are a range of organisations in Gateshead independent from the Council that can help you put your views across and voice any concerns you may have. 

• Where to get information, advice and support
• Gateshead SENDIASS
• Voluntary and Community Organisations Booklet [597.65KB]

How we gather the views of young people

Gateshead Council is committed to gathering the views of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities which helps us to improve and shape services and identify any gaps in service provision. The diagram below highlights how we do this and the difference it makes.

Diagram - How we gather the views of young people with SEND [380.58KB]

How to share your views for your annual review [16.36MB]

Your views on services

We want to ensure that the services you receive are excellent quality and encourage service providers to actively seek your views about the level of service you receive. If you receive a survey or questionnaire or are invited to give your views in any other way about a service, please do so, as it will help the service provider to improve. If you are dissatisfied about a service, you should contact the service provider directly to discuss this or to make a complaint. If you have already done this and are still dissatisfied you can contact Gateshead Council for further advice: senteam@gateshead.gov.uk

If you are concerned about a child's safety, you should immediately contact Gateshead Council on 0191 433 2410 (office hours) or 0191 477 0844 (out of hours).