Whickham School

As listed by the Department for Education, grouped the way EHC plans describe needs.

1. An EHC plan

   Places in an SEN unit or resourced provision are usually for children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. If your child doesn’t have one yet, you can ask the council for an assessment yourself.

2. Visit and ask about the base

   See the school and its specialist base, and ask how children split their time between the base and mainstream classes.

3. Ask for the school to be named

   Tell the council that looks after the plan (often Gateshead council) that you want this school and its base, and ask them to consult it.

4. Named in the plan

   If the school is named in your child’s plan, it must admit your child. Places in the base itself are agreed between the council and the school, so ask how they decide.

• How many children are in each class, and how many adults?
• Which therapies happen in school (speech and language, occupational therapy, physiotherapy), and how often?
• What training do staff have in my child’s needs?
• How do you help children who are anxious, overwhelmed or in distress?
• How will you keep in touch with me day to day?
• How does home-to-school transport work?
• What happens at the big changes: starting, moving up, and leaving at 16 or 19?
• Can my child visit first, or have a settling-in period?

Ticks stay on this device, so you can use them on the day.

Inspected in January 2025. Inspections from September 2024 to November 2025 graded each area but gave no overall grade.

• Quality of educationGood
• Behaviour and attitudesGood
• Personal developmentGood
• Leadership and managementGood
• Sixth formGood
• SafeguardingEffective

Since then: School remains Good (Improving) - S5 Next (ungraded inspection, May 2023).