Enhanced Provision in Warnock Class

In 2025, Longford Park submitted a successful application to Oxfordshire County Council to offer an ‘Enhanced Provision’ for existing pupils.  Through this local initiative, OCC provides the school with 3 years of ‘additional’ Top Up Funding to enable the school to staff an ‘enhanced provision’ with a qualified teacher and a TA. The size of the cohort is capped at 10 pupils. 

The vision for this model of provision is to strengthen early intervention, thereby increasing the likelihood of children successfully learning and developing the skills they need to enjoy and progress through the mainstream curriculum with greater independence.  The intention is that early intervention reduces the need for intensive and more restrictive 1:1 support as children get older.  This is important as research and experience shows that “over-supporting” can have the unintended consequence of preventing children from enjoying the full breadth of the curriculum, reduces their access to learning mediated by a teacher, and can result in social isolation as children become separated from their peers due to over reliance on a TA and missed opportunities for interaction with their peers.

School leaders identify children who may benefit from a period of intervention in Warnock class.  When the provision is first being considered for a child by school leaders, the entry and exit ‘criteria’ will be shared with parents.  School and parents will then work in partnership to agree the outcomes for the child and the balance of the child’s weekly timetable that will be spend accessing learning in Warnock class.  The effectiveness of the provision in supporting a child to achieve their agreed outcomes will be kept under constant review.  If a child is not progressing as intended, parents will be involved in decisions about next steps (for example whether Warnock intervention ceases and the child re-joins their mainstream class for the entirety of their timetable). In some cases, effective early intervention in Warnock class may avoid the need for an EHCP. 

Warnock class staff, along with the SENDCo and Senior Leadership Team work with a range of external agencies to develop the enhanced provision including;

• An outreach teacher from Frank Wise School
• Early Years Special Educational Needs advisory teachers
• Advisory teachers from Communication and Interaction, Behaviour and Inclusion, Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment teams
• NHS Speech and Language Therapists

It is important to note that Warnock class ‘enhanced provision’ is an internal provision for children already on roll at Longford Park Primary School.  Warnock class is not a local authority resourced-base provision.  Therefore, usual school admissions routes apply.  If the additional funding from OCC ceases, the school will need to review whether it is financially viable to continue offering the enhanced provision.