At Trafford and Stockport College Group (TSCG), we are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment where every learner thrives and can achieve their full potential. This is in line with our core purpose: unlocking potential for successful futures. We exist to break down barriers to opportunity.
Our commitment to supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) builds upon a foundation of excellence and ensuring inclusivity is at the heart of everything we do. This approach responds to the growing and evolving needs of our local communities and the wider Greater Manchester city region.
Our approach is informed by national priorities, including the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, as well as local strategies across Stockport and Trafford. Most importantly, it reflects the aspirations of our learners, parents, carers and staff, whose input has been instrumental in shaping our approach. We strive to ensure that all learners get the “right support”, in the “right place” at the “right time”.
As we respond to increasing demand and complexity, we remain steadfast in our belief that inclusion is a fundamental value underpinning everything we do, and that support for students with SEND is everyone’s responsibility at TSCG. Through embedding this ethos across the College Group, we ensure that all staff and stakeholders play their part in creating an environment where learners feel valued, supported and inspired.
As we look to the future, we aim to be nationally recognised as a leading provider of inclusive education; one where every learner feels seen, heard, supported and empowered to thrive in an ever-changing world; and a provider where every learner feels is a place to belong.
“Learners and apprentices enjoy learning at TSCG. They talk about the highly inclusive and supportive environment that provides a safe and positive place to learn.”
To foster success via a positive learning culture that generates motivation and enthusiasm through excellent teaching.
Create a learning environment that consistently challenges all students to achieve their highest levels of ability.
As educators, we are reflective and believe that we need to improve because we can always be better, not because we are not good enough.
Our TSCG SEND and Vulnerable Learners Strategy drives our approach to ensuring every learner has the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of background.
The strategy has six objectives as follows:
Champion a truly person-centred approach, empowering individuals to thrive through tailored planning and unwavering support.
Inspire excellence in every aspect of teaching, learning and assessment, ensuring inclusivity and fostering a culture of achievement for all.
Forge powerful, impactful collaborations with Local Authorities and partners, creating a united network for positive change.
Unlock limitless opportunities for personal growth, employment and independence, helping individuals shape their own futures.
Transform environments with enhanced accessibility and cutting-edge resources, ensuring everyone has the tools to succeed.
Prioritise and nurture mental health, wellbeing and emotional resilience, fostering a supportive space for lasting personal growth.
The purpose of the TSCG Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Policy is aimed at improving outcomes for students. It is to support students with SEND to make good progress, enabling them to live, learn and work within their communities.
Our policy aims to:
Our Progression Curriculum offers flexible and tailored ways of learning to suit every need, with specialist support from expert SEND teachers and learning facilitators. We create a place where everyone can access education that is right for them, with courses that embed independence, resilience and employability skills to support progression to further study, apprenticeships or employment.
Our TSCG Local Offer contains information for students, parents, carers and local authority partners regarding the type of education we provide, the various course options and the range of learning and pastoral support provision. It details how we meet the differing needs of our students through specialist assessment and support, bespoke access arrangements, assistive technology, preparation for adulthood and enrichment activities.
We pride ourselves in our partnerships with our local authorities. Through this, we also utilise the Local Offer of our borough councils to ensure that our students and their families are signposted to all forms of support available to them.
More information on our Local Offer can be found on in SEND Policy.
Cheadle College’s Choices programme promotes independence and confidence. Our specialist Entry Level 1, 2 and 3 courses, along with our new Level 1 provision, support learners with complex special educational needs and disabilities to achieve a range of bespoke qualifications, including stepping-stone maths and English, life and employability skills alongside work-related learning and community projects. Choices is based in specialist facilities at our brand-new Cheadle College campus. Successful students will have the opportunity to progress to a pre-supported internship, employment, vocational pathway and/or volunteering.
Our Supported Internships are in partnership with Pure Innovations and are based off site at Stepping Hill Hospital, Trafford General Hospital, Trafford Local Authority, Amazon and HMRC. Supported Internships provide a unique opportunity for young people with an EHCP to enhance their employability skills in a real-life working environment.
This one-year pre-employment course is based in the workplace and college, and students study employability skills alongside three placements. We organise the job placements and provide support from a job coach and employment officer, facilitating the learning of new skills and experiences with the ultimate aim of finding paid employment at the end of the course. Interns are treated as an equal in the workplace which shows that they are valued members of the workforce.
For students not quite ready for the placements, we offer a Pre-Supported Internship programme. Our Pre-Supported Internships are delivered in partnership with Pure Innovations and provide a college-based internship for young people with an EHCP. This college- based internship supports the development of employability skills alongside work experience placements. Successful students will have the opportunity to apply for a place on the Supported Internship or move to a vocational pathway.
At TSCG we recognise that some young people might be daunted at the thought of progressing from school to college. Our College Ready programme is a pre-college course for young people who have just finished school and are thinking of coming to college in September.
The programme is a two-day transition course that gives students a snap-shot of college life, away from the hustle and bustle of our New Student Welcome Day. Students have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with our supportive college environment and take part in fun team building activities, experience vocational tasters and have an opportunity to make friends, meet teachers and support staff.
At TSCG we recognise that not every young person is ready, for a whole variety of reasons, to engage in full-time post-16 education when they leave school. We also recognise that more flexible and bespoke options for study can be more problematic to deliver in school sixth forms and typical further education colleges.
That is why at TSCG, working closely with young people, parents, carers and our local authority partners, we have developed a number of highly innovative and successful programmes to “meet our young people where they are”. We passionately believe that we can’t operate in a ‘one size fits all’ model of learning; inclusion means adapting our college to the student, not the student to the college. We develop personalised learning programmes for these students, to remove these barriers.
Our bespoke and tailored programmes include:
Designed for young people who are undecided about their future career and don’t feel ready to access a full- time course and may need support to enter the world of work. This 10-week, 10-hour course will support young people who, for a wide variety of reasons, may have been disengaged from learning, to attend college, helping to remove barriers to participation in education and re-integrate into a learning setting.
Engage is a programme for young people who have become unsure about their choice of programmes in year but wish to continue with their studies. This is a reduced programme, that helps students to focus on attaining maths and English GCSE and re-engage in college life through a bespoke timetable, including tutorial and 1-1 support from one of our specialist teachers.
Our Blended Learning Programme is for young people who are unable to access learning on site due to health issues. This mixed delivery programme will help students to overcome barriers to learning with the ultimate aim to support progression to on-site learning. This programme is aimed to support students to build the confidence and ability to gradually attend campus-based sessions. The programme is aimed at learners working at Entry Level 3 / Level 1. Students acquire skills for learning and employment, as well as the opportunity to come on site and attend a carousel of vocational tasters. We are currently in the process of extending the model to A Level provision.
