The Education Outreach Service for Speech, Language and Communication (SLCN) is a team of specialist teachers who provide advice and support to primary and secondary schools.

We are part of the Communication and Interaction Service within the Specialist Education Service.

The children and young people who are referred to the Service have additional needs in speech, language and communication, and this is likely to be affecting their learning in school. The children may experience difficulty expressing themselves verbally, understanding language and following instructions. Their communication needs may be affecting their ability to make friends and take a full part in school life.

We support colleagues in schools to understand how SLCN can affect a child’s progress across the curriculum and their social inclusion. We do this through speaking to school staff, parents and the child him/herself, observing how the child learns and responds in different situations, both in the classroom and in unstructured times during the school day.

We are able to offer advice and support in creating a communication-friendly environment with good practice at its heart. We model strategies and approaches that support the inclusion of children and young people with SLCN and deliver introductory training in SLCN as well as in specific areas such as listening skills, social communication groups or vocabulary building.

Schools can refer to the Service using the Inclusion Service Referral Form.

For a more detailed overview of the Service, please refer to the Service Specification.

Contacts

Caroline Wells – Head of Service – [email protected]

Rosemary Kelly – Specialist Teacher – [email protected]

Lucy Parker – Specialist Teacher – [email protected]

Lucy Millard – Specialist Teacher – [email protected]

Stacey Banthorpe – Specialist Outreach Teacher South – [email protected]

Alex Baker – Specialist Outreach Teacher West – [email protected]