Special Partnership Trust is committed to providing the best opportunities for SEN and advocating for SEN practitioners. Our carefully planned growth strategy ensures continuous development of our offerings for children and supports school improvement needs both internally and externally. We focus on building a quality trust that delivers specialised services and enhances opportunities for specialist knowledge.

We are dedicated to expanding our offerings and maintaining the focus on quality, enabling us to collaborate with partners to optimise growth. Our growth and outreach models are designed to address the special educational needs of children within the context of local provision mapping. By optimising professional cross-working and partnering with local entities, we support and enhance growth in our area.

CPD school improvement model

To support our infrastructure growth, we have established a robust school improvement model backed by diverse learning communities. This model enables:

• Continuous professional development
• Capacity building across the Trust
• Utilisation and expansion of knowledge and skills
• A clear-quality assurance framework

Additionally, we have implemented a Specialist Intervention Therapeutic Team to enhance our specialist provision. This team collaborates with skilled therapists and professionals to deliver individual therapeutic interventions, upskill our workforce, and better meet the needs of our children. As part of our growth, we plan to extend this model to our new schools and support our mainstream colleagues in understanding the benefits of using this model.

Our Recruitment, Reward, and Retention strategy focusses on attracting high-quality staff, providing excellent workplaces, and offering professional development opportunities, including leadership and coaching qualifications.

Areas of Growth

• Growth to identify local need

In 2025, we are opening our new free school ‘Bosvena’ in Bodmin Cornwall. This is a newly built school and will be a specialist provision for learners aged 5 to 16-years-old whose needs cannot be met within a mainstream environment. All students will have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in relation to their Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. This new school will be expanding our services to better cater for children with special educational needs throughout Cornwall.

In 2026, we are opening another free school ‘Castlebridge’ in Ivybridge Devon. This will be a school to provide specialist provision for pupils who have been unable to access mainstream school with a specific focus on accessible academic opportunities. This will be underpinned by a robust PSHE curriculum.

• Growth to respond to local factors

We are working with the Local Authority to meet the increasing need for special needs placements by expanding our current school sites and building new ones.

Bosvena and Castlebridge, as in the previous growth point, are both new free schools with a focus on SEMH. Two of our current schools- Nancealverne and Curnow are expanding their sites to be able to expand the number of children they have on roll to meet local need. Nancealverne Upper and Karder are opening to students in 2024.

• Growth from sponsoring schools needing support

At Special Partnership Trust we also sponsor schools that need support and guidance. Orchard Manor joined the Trust in 2021, and Brunel joined in 2023. Both have grown with the support of the Trust and have benefited from our highly developed school improvement model. Millwater School will also be joining SPT in Autumn 2024, and we are very excited to be welcoming the school, and all the staff there, to the Trust.

• Growth from 'good' schools wanting to join us as partners

Our values of being ambitious and specialist mean we are always striving to raise our standards and to share our  insights into the needs of children and young people. By partnering with ‘good’ schools, we can continue to drive standards and build relationships that share best practice, providing quality education for all children and young people in Cornwall and Devon. Three Ways in Bath, Magadalen Court in Devon and the newly opened Cardrew Court in Cornwall are all in partnership with SPT.

Outreach

We advocate for inclusive schools where staff are equipped to meet diverse needs effectively. Our outreach offer focusses on developing a CPD programme to enhance staff specialist knowledge-delivered by expert practitioners who offer practical, timely, and flexible support.

The Specialist Information Advice and Guidance Service (SIAG) is a proven, funded model that supports mainstream schools with inclusive practices and Quality First Teaching. Our SEN Practitioners deliver training, coaching, modelling and support to leaders, teachers and support staff. This service is funded by Delivering Better Value from the local authority until March and will be developed into an on-going model by SPT. The feedback from schools so far has been immensely positive highlighting the on-going need for partnership working to support existing SEN services. See the outreach page for case studies and detailed information on the successes of this project. 

We also offer bespoke specialist outreach for individual pupils in both mainstream and specialist settings, benefiting students, colleagues, and all staff by enhancing their skills and knowledge. Our SEN Practitioners support our colleagues with interventions, planning, auditing and highly individualised packages of support dependent on need.

Our value of ‘aspiration’ goes far beyond the walls of our own schools and our genuine approach means we can support more children with Special Educational Needs through our outreach offers. We are building long-term partnerships with both Multi-Academy Trusts and the Local Authority to drive system changes and provide ongoing support for schools through a sustainable, funded outreach model. Please see our outreach page for more information and updates on the latest offers. 

The Special Partnership Trust is actively seeking meaningful and relevant opportunities to further develop and grow the Trust through a range of partnership models/agreements, outreach and action research projects. If you would like to discuss an aspect of the Trust offer, access support and resources or would like to talk about how the Trust expertise could support the pupils in your setting, please don’t hesitate to contact; Emilie Warren SEND Outreach Operations Manager ewarren@specialpartnershiptrust.org